Kokaistudios

27/05/2026

13/05/2026

Awards | The Silk Lakehouse Named Among World's Most Beautiful Hotels 2026 by The Prix Versailles

On May 12, The Silk Lakehouse, Shangri-La Hangzhou—our heritage architecture renovation project—was named one of 16 projects on The Prix Versailles' World's Most Beautiful Hotels 2026 list. This international architecture and design award recognizes contemporary projects that leave extraordinary imprints on their living environments. Following this recognition, the project is now eligible to compete for one of the three 2026 World Titles—Prix Versailles, Interior, and Exterior—which will be discerned by the World Jury and announced by the end of the year. Stay tuned!

08/05/2026

Design Highlights | XINTIANDI DONGTAILI – Interior Design

The project’s interior continues the urban narrative initiated by its exterior, offering a cohesive experience from outside to within. Extending its urban street block concept into the interior, the design draws inspiration from the theme of “Shanghai Story” to narrate the city’s historical and cultural evolution. A key challenge was the integration of fire shutters required around the central atriums due to updated fire prevention codes. Rather than concealing or compromising the space, the design team reimagined these elements as a feature: the skylight grid is extended downward and merged with the fire shutter columns.

06/05/2026

Design Highlights | XINTIANDI DONGTAILI – Facade and Materiality

Material expression plays a crucial role in articulating the project’s mixed-use identity. The facade design of XINTIANDI DONGTAILI adopts a “Heavy and Light” contrast to articulate its distinct programmatic layers. This contrast begins with the lower podium floors from levels 1 to 3, where robust precast concrete panels reinterpret the texture and tonality of traditional Shanghai plaster. Above, the terraces on levels 3 and 4 are clad in lightweight metallic louvers that shimmer and shift under changing light conditions, lending a contemporary quality to the roofline.

29/04/2026

Design Highlights | XINTIANDI DONGTAILI – Architecture Design Strategy

The design of XINTIANDI DONGTAILI is guided by the vision of a “Total Community”. A key strategy is to divide the commercial massing into five separate volumes. Linking the blocks at the second-floor level, a loop of enclosed bridges allows for continuous circulation, transforming the upper levels into a walkable roof park that promotes both movement and social interaction. Further reinforcing the project’s community-focused ethos is a commitment to human-scale design. To ensure the vitality of spaces below street level, the underground strategy was conceived as a natural extension of the architecture above.

27/04/2026

Project | XINTIANDI DONGTAILI: Revitalizing Urban Memory Through Contemporary Design

At the intersection of heritage and innovation, XINTIANDI DONGTAILI marks a new chapter in the evolution of one of Shanghai’s most iconic neighborhoods. More than a commercial development, it is a bold reimagining of what urban can be: socially engaged, architecturally contextual, and rooted in the vision of a Total Community. In 2018, Kokaistudios was commissioned to lead the architecture and interior design of the commercial space within this project. By layering architectural innovation with cultural storytelling and social utility, the development not only enriches Greater Xintiandi area, but also sets a new benchmark for inclusive, community-centered urban regeneration in Shanghai.

22/04/2026

Andrea Destefanis , Founder and Principal Architect of Kokaistudios, has been invited to act as a featured jury member for the 19th GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN by Int.design . Launched in 2007 in Montreal and fully open to international participants since 2020, this prestigious competition celebrates the excellence of creative professionals and firms demonstrating exemplary practice.

The integrity of the GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN relies on its high-caliber international jury panel, a multidisciplinary group comprising esteemed architects, designers, urban planners, academics, and journalists from across the globe. Peer jurors also include Hans Fonk (Founder of OBJEKT), Bill Bouchey (Associate of Gensler), Jenchieh Hung (Founder of HAS design and research) and so on.

15/04/2026

Kokaistudios is pleased to share Lualdi's latest feature showcasing the Koan collection, a collaborative product line that reinterprets traditional East Asian movable partitions through a contemporary, minimalist lens.

Comprising Koan, Koan Plus, and Koan Light, the evolving system masterfully balances transparency and materiality by combining the structural elegance of glass and metal with the warmth of custom-crafted wood. By synergizing cultural heritage with advanced product engineering, the collection provides highly customizable architectural solutions that create dynamic plays of light, reflection, and seamless spatial continuity within modern interiors.

08/04/2026

Kokaistudios is pleased to announce our inclusion in the Architecture MasterPrize's 'Icons of Architecture' list. Conceived as a permanent record of the world's most celebrated design leaders, the directory recognizes global architectural studios alongside their notable works. We are honored to be featured among this distinguished group of international firms, with the AMP specifically highlighting our design for the NIO Delivery Center in Shanghai.

To view the complete directory, please visit: https://architectureprize.com/icons-of-architecture/

01/04/2026

Speech Recap | Design in the City: Contemporary Expression through the Lens of Lifestyle

On March 17th at the Molteni&C Shanghai Showroom, Kokaistudios participated in "Design in the City: Contemporary Expression through the Lens of Lifestyle," a compelling event collaboratively organized by Design Shanghai, Donghua University, and Molteni&C.

Representing our practice, Associate Partner and Architecture Design Director Liwei delivered a speech titled "Participatory Design and Co-creation Mechanisms in Community Renewal."

By sharing insights from our recently completed urban interventions—namely the Shanghai Suhe MixC World, Xintiandi Dongtaili, and Wuhan Chubaoli—Liwei demonstrated how thoughtfully navigating the intersection of social and cultural dimensions can successfully reactivate the public and everyday life of a neighborhood, transforming it into a thriving, integral component of the living city.