In China’s Binjiang district – the capital of China’s Zhejiang province – what was once a stainless steel factory has been restored by Tri-Orange Design studio to design a spacious photography studio.

The original dormitory building has been divided into four independent pavilions, the largest of which has been restored as a creative atelier, while the smaller spaces now house a café, boutique, and exhibition area. The industrial building and the remaining traces of the pre-existence have instead been preserved in the state of industrial archaeology.

The water tower, specifically, is now an authentic remnant of the original plant. The staircase that connects this pre-existence with the project is characterized by a plastic and white volumetry and makes the old and the new converge without forcing them to conform to each other’s aesthetics. Past and present are connected here, textured brown colliding with glossy white.

While the exterior facades are defined by plastic and sculptural cuts, in the interior spaces, the designers, guided by the logic of “digestion, remodeling, and coexistence,” conducted a careful, non-invasive renovation, where the white of the new buildings blends with basic details of the steel mill “where time stagnates.”

Here the rough brick walls of the past dialogue with contemporary materiality, where the smooth concrete floor and white vertical partitions are detailed by colored neon and metallic finishes. Unconventional, mellow furniture is paired with eccentric art such as a massive dollar bill embedded in electric blue glass, which adorns the interior of the pavilions and café.