Maike Metals Group (Maike) is one of Chinese biggest non-ferrous metals suppliers and traders with the largest trading volume of copper cathode. As an industrial leader, Maike has invested RMB 3 billion to build the Midwest Inland Port Financial Town (the town), so far the largest metals trading platform in Asia. Located in the Xi’an International Trade and Logistics Park, the Financial Town is a modern trading and logistics platform that offers integrated transportation, warehousing, freight forwarding and information services.
Authorized through the international bid as the designer of Maike’s first bulk commodity trading center in West China, Hallucinate Design Office believes that a modern city with a rich historical legacy like Xi’an is inclusive enough to embrace new visions, and has therefore developed the interior designs beyond the city’s geographical features for a balanced presentation of historical elements in an open perspective.
Taking into account the significance of the project, the interiors are unconventionally designed in an open and tranquil style to underline the importance of the project as the first platform in Midwest China to fill the gap of continuous transactions of the actuals as well as its endorsement of modern trading. A restrained approach follows throughout the selection of materials, functional elements and the overall design logic for the purpose of creating a lasting visual attraction and the completeness of a comprehensive project.
The completed design features a perfect combination of the luminous roof and the large-gridded digital walls that blurs the boundaries between modern technologies and the architecture itself, and between the reality and imagination, creating a surreal ambience for visitors to visualise future possibilities and technological advancements. The design also demonstrates Maike’s corporate value of pursuing a better future as well as the project’s essence as a strikingly admirable endeavour.
Design and info © Hallucinate Design Office
Images © Javier Callejas Sevilla