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SPOTLIGHT

OFFICE EXTRAORDINAIRE

Chinese design studio Hallucinate creates a sleek modern interior
to brighten up the offices of a heavy metals business.

ome to the start of the ancient Silk Road trading route Inside, Hallucinate dreamed up an airy office interior dominated by
and the world famous army of terracotta warriors, the city white and black hues in order to move away from the metal colors
Hof Xi’an in central China has a rich past. Yet this bustling the firm is so closely identified with in its day-to-day operations.
megalopolis hasn’t turned its back on the future. Today, it serves as Hallucinate’s founder and creative director, Wenliang Wang, seized
an important gateway to the country’s vast interior. It is here that on the opportunity to express Maike’s forward-looking, technology-
the Maike Metals Group, one of China’s largest metals and mining driven spirit with a bold interpretation.
groups, looked to set up base inside the Xi’an International Trade “We believe that a modern city with a rich historical legacy like Xi’an
and Logistics Park with a new office complex and trading center for is inclusive enough to embrace new visions,” says Wang. The design
commodities known as the Midwest Inland Port Financial Town. studio kept flooring materials to a minimum, with black artificial
stone adding contrast to the lobby where Corian® Solid Surface in
A key player in supplying and trading non-ferrous metals such as Glacier White color features at the rectangular-shaped reception
copper, zinc, nickel and tin, Maike wanted to make a strong statement desk and where a series of curved walls are clad in custom-made
with its vast 320,000-sqm office development. While Japanese extruded aluminum grids that are embedded with an LED display
architecture firm Interdesign Associates oversaw the construction projecting data figures as integrated graphic elements.
of multiple towers on the site, the company turned to Shenzhen- Corian® Solid Surface features again in curved wall partitions on
based design firm Hallucinate to come up with a decidedly futuristic the trading floor that is outfitted with charcoal gray carpeting. The
interior scheme. most dramatic use of Corian® Solid Surface, which is also found in

WENLIANG WANG

Founder and creative director of Hallucinate

OPPOSITE: Minimalist black and white colors dominate the airy entrance to Midwest Inland
Port Financial Town.

50 Corian® Design / ISSUE TWO