Breaking through installation for the 2013 Beijing Design Week is essentially a preliminary act since the space is meant to become a new boutique hotel in the months to come. The hotel will be grafted into the existing building through precise insertions and punctual modifications; actions that informed our controlled demolition. The structural survey and the analysis of the existing spaces, organized in an extensive linear sequence – a quite unique feature for such building typology in this area of Beijing – were the premises of our temporary installation.

An elevated wooden path, framed by twisting groups of elastic strings, guides the visitors along the derelict building to a pop-up restaurant, where the Beijing Design Week hosted the opening and closing dinner. Through the perforation of the existing walls and structures, we revealed the stratified history of the interior spaces and highlight the character of the future hotel.

The system of new portals is a succession of points of view that, previewing the new hotel internal circulation, forces the visitors into an unexpected journey, challenging his imagination and forcing him to redefine the meaning of "exploration". The string tunnel ends in a large double-height room and branches out in a three-line lighting feature, marking and defining visually the sitting areas of the temporary restaurant.