September 30th, 2019
In the morning, the air was slightly damp, carrying a feeling of loss. Fragmented memories flooded his heart, yet none were clear or recognizable.
Wutopia Lab is transforming an unused two-bedroom, one-living-room, one-bathroom apartment in Shanghai’s Jing’an District into an experimental space called Wuto Space, set to officially open on February 16, 2024.
Disobey
The design process began in 2021, though the final concept was initially unclear. A key goal was to challenge the conventional room layout. Over the past 30 years, China’s rapid real estate development has resulted in similar housing types nationwide. This project explores alternative possibilities.
△ Red convex window © Liu Guowei
Fear
During Shanghai’s static management period in 2022, I had ample time to reflect on this design. Emotions drive my creative process. The two months of lockdown gave me the opportunity to deeply contemplate fear—fear of an unpredictable future. Wuto Space is designed to observe, release, understand, confront, or accept fear.
△ Wuto Space corner © Liu Guowei
December 28th, 2018
The boundless darkness seemed endless and without origin. He lost awareness of himself and was overwhelmed with panic, yet he realized it was a futile sadness—shattered fragments of light lost in vain.
△ Project video © Liu Guowei
AB Surface
I divided the apartment into two sections along a vertical wall: side A and side B. Side A contains the guest dining room and Nanyang Terrace; the kitchen and north balcony are also on this side. Side B includes two bedrooms and the bathroom.
△ Plan view © Wutopia Lab
Side A
Ideal Life
I installed a second silver door behind the apartment’s standard anti-theft door. Behind the Wuto Space logo lies side A, symbolizing an ideal life.
△ Silver door © Liu Guowei
△ Wuto Space logo © Liu Guowei
The microcement dining room doubles as an art museum. At its center is a large table crafted from recycled ocean plastic. The softness of the plastic creates a slightly wavy tabletop, evoking the sea within the room.
The room’s colonnade draws inspiration from the film The Tragedy of Macbeth. It replaces typical built-in furniture and TV walls, functioning as an indoor architectural feature. Behind the colonnade hangs a Klein blue perforated aluminum plate painting, substituting the TV and commemorating my youthful dream of Shanghai’s center, a bid I once lost.
△ Living room © Liu Guowei
△ Column gallery © Liu Guowei
△ Column gallery and perforated aluminum plate painting © Liu Guowei
△ Column gallery © Liu Guowei
I designed a wooden box with storage compartments, fresh air window sashes, a direct drinking water system, bonsai, air vents, and a full window embedded into the balcony, serving as the apartment’s climate boundary. As the curtain slowly rises, the cityscape unfolds like a painting, becoming part of the room’s decor.
△ Wooden box © Liu Guowei
△ Wooden box © Liu Guowei
△ Wooden box © Liu Guowei
△ Wooden box © Liu Guowei
△ View of wooden box through the colonnade © Liu Guowei
Extending along the pipelines on both sides of the balcony is a custom black wooden cabinet with integrated air vents, refrigerators, wine cabinets, and coffee machines. Behind it lies a fully equipped and refined kitchen. The north balcony east of the kitchen serves as a single-person smoking room. Fragments of recycled ocean plastic embedded in the plaster shimmer brightly. The seat panel, crafted from golden nanmu wood gifted by a friend, was too long; the extra piece was cut and placed on the Nanyang Terrace as bonsai. A movable blue glass panel separates the smoking room from the living room without full division.
View of blue glass in the smoking room © Liu Guowei
△ Black wooden cabinet © Liu Guowei
△ Customized kitchen © Liu Guowei
△ Smoking room © Liu Guowei
Recycled plastic used as aggregate in plaster walls © Liu Guowei
View from smoking room to living room © Liu Guowei
I used arched ceilings to conceal the pipelines along both sides of the living room. A black light strip along the arch’s centerline creates a compelling axial symmetry—a detail architects are irresistibly drawn to. It also enhances the living room’s sacred atmosphere, resembling an art museum. I envision someone lying under a gray dome on a long blue table, as if drifting through life—a profound sacrifice of existence.
△ Central axis perspective © Liu Guowei
△ Arched ceiling and colonnade © Liu Guowei
View of the living room through blue glass © Liu Guowei
This represents an idealized life where architects create minimalist spaces and skilled renovators carefully integrate various functions like treasures in a chest. The textured wooden boxes contribute to a tranquil, Zen-like atmosphere. Here, fear seems conquerable.
March 21, 2018
He distrusted his memory, often rewriting it through dreams, effectively living two lives simultaneously.
Pause
Behind the hidden door at the colonnade’s edge lies a silver pause on two steps. You notice three concealed doors. Like Hercules at a crossroads, you feel uncertain, yet are irresistibly drawn to a yellow light shining from a hole in your right hand—peeking is inevitable.
Two steps and a silver passage © Liu Guowei
△ Channels and gaps © Liu Guowei
△ Channel © Liu Guowei
△ Channel © Liu Guowei
△ Channel © Liu Guowei
△ Cave entrance © Liu Guowei
Side B
Prisoner
Opening the door near the entrance floods the room with light like a rainstorm. The previously deliberate gentleness and calmness vanish. This room draws inspiration from the master bedroom in The French School, furnished with only a single sofa. Whether standing, sitting, or lying down, it evokes a thought-provoking illusion. The hail-like purple walls represent the fall of desire, while the crystalline city visible through the curved window feels surreal.
Master bedroom deep in the channel © Liu Guowei
Master bedroom deep in the channel © Liu Guowei
Master bedroom © Liu Guowei
Master bedroom © Liu Guowei
Master bedroom night view © Liu Guowei
Behind the sofa is a cabinet featuring a large glass display window, inside of which a yellow space symbolizes materiality. On the ground within the cabinet sits a device called Abyss. When you look at it, it looks back at you. The empty double screen frames on both walls represent us—immersed deeply in materialism—as the real content and decoration. I installed a glass panel inspired by the rap song “Fish Tank” by Shanghai high school students, which moved me during lockdown. This “Narnia cabinet” is essentially a material fish tank, where you and I are glamorous prisoners.
△ Hidden yellow space © Liu Guowei
△ Hidden yellow space © Liu Guowei
△ Hidden yellow space © Liu Guowei
△ View into yellow space from cave entrance © Liu Guowei
Inside the yellow space © Liu Guowei
△ Abyss device © Liu Guowei
Captive
Behind the second door is a white bathroom serving as a poetry library. Bathrooms often unexpectedly provide refuge in real life, turning the dirtiest place into something sacred. To the left of the toilet, a white curtain slowly rises, revealing a shower room designed as a black cave. The showerhead is a custom package style. Washing the body symbolizes cleansing humiliation and sin, yet we remain prisoners of shame deep within. A pink rope here represents our self-imposed captivity. I once heard an interviewee say that being tightly bound brought unprecedented freedom, but I remain skeptical.
△ White restroom © Liu Guowei
△ Bookshelf © Liu Guowei
View towards the passage from the white bathroom © Liu Guowei
View through the curtain to the white space © Liu Guowei
△ Hidden black shower room © Liu Guowei
△ Black shower room © Liu Guowei
Granite, niche, pink rope © Liu Guowei
Prey
Behind the final door is a blazing furnace—this room is wrapped with leather and mirrors, resembling a KTV. Here, everyone relaxes in their own way, whether sitting or lying down. At that moment, I would open the dark window, and the red convex window would reveal a mouth full of fangs, warning those who have let their guard down. What are we afraid of? Unpredictable dangers. Life’s truth is that fate is uncertain, and danger often arrives unexpectedly.
View towards the second bedroom from the passage © Liu Guowei
△ Second bedroom © Liu Guowei
△ Fierce fire © Liu Guowei
△ Thorns © Liu Guowei
△ Red window © Liu Guowei
△ Second bedroom with irregular roof © Liu Guowei
August 4, 2015
The exhausted sunlight lay between them, and time turned brown. They shared the same feeling of emptiness, causing a person in this room to panic helplessly in exhaustion.
Once accustomed, they handle it calmly. The greatest thrill in life is the adrenaline rush triggered by controllable fear. Artist Shi Yong told me this is not the end but the beginning. Everyone can engage in creative work at different depths, enriching the narrative. I agree. Breaking the stereotype of a typical two-bedroom, one-living-room layout is an attempt to awaken our numbness through architecture. My first confrontation is with fear: fear of death, poverty, aging, losing my mind and consciousness. Wuto Space helps me understand and face fear, becoming a living testament to my reflections and inspiring further thought.
November 29, 2014
She said, “I thought memories after burning wouldn’t easily turn to ashes… but when the wind blows, they really do.” He paused, then said, “Ashes can be transformed into diamonds.”
△ Wuto Space night view © Liu Guowei
△ Wuto Space night view © Liu Guowei
Project Information
Project Name: Wuto Space
Design Company: Wutopia Lab
Lead Architect: Yu Ting
Project Architect: Kuang Zhou
Construction Drawing Deepening Unit: Zoom Architecture
Construction Drawing Design Team: Wang Liyang, Lu Tao
Lighting Consultants: Zhang Chenlu, Wei Shiyu
Brand Consultant: Ye Chun
Construction Unit: Home Decoration
Construction Team: Wang Liyang (Director), Jiang Qiqing (Project Manager), Wang Weiwei, Wang Huanhuan, Wang Shijie
Location: Shanghai, China
Timeline: December 2021 – February 2024
Area: 78 square meters
Materials: Microcement, art paint, terrazzo, granite, leather, golden nanmu wood
Recycled Plastic Tables: Wuto Tech
Perforated Aluminum Plate Painting: Wuto Art
Chair: Upright Chair (ziinlife squeak x Yu Ting)
Photography: Daily Architecture Photography | Liu Guowei
Video: Daily Architecture Photography | Liu Guowei
Appearances on Camera: Kuang Zhou
Special Sponsorship
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