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ZEYN

INDEPENDENT · INDEPENDENT · DESIGN

Pop Lab — Shili Guitang Digital Co-Creation Space

Bringing Imagination and Smart Manufacturing into the City Park

Context
ZEYN — Independent Project
Year
2026
Practice
DESIGN
Location
Changsha, China
Status
ONGOING
Aerial view of the Shili Guitang riverside site with functional zoning

Overview

A finalist proposal for the Yuhua District Youth Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition: turn a 30–40 sqm box on the Shili Guitang riverside park into a public-facing smart-manufacturing platform. Six modules stage the full 'design — make — show' cycle — the Pop Lab retail & exhibition centre with place-based cultural products; a live manufacturing display where robotic milling, concrete / timber / plastic / clay 3D printing and robotic brickwork become watchable city content; a migratory-bird nesting programme co-built with the public each season; pop-up markets and an urban space art season; a public events & showcase space; and creative workshops where citizens design with generative AI and recycled materials. Park-scale urban furniture recreates internationally awarded pieces at full size along the river.

Creative concept — a city experience field fusing digital technology and ecologySix spatial modules forming the overall spatial narrative
In-house product line — Winter Hollow tree construction editionsPlace-based design — Guangqi Pavilion 3D-printed study
Hibiscus of Hunan — generative form study between openness and cohesionPop Lab centre — retail and exhibition interior
Live manufacturing display — robotic fabrication in the parkMigratory-bird nesting programme along the boardwalk
Birdhouse cluster co-designed and built with the publicUrban space art season — low-intervention, sustainable land art
Creative workshop interior wrapped in the recycled-material envelopePark living — the urban furniture pavilion
Internationally awarded urban furniture recreated in the park at full scale

Methodology

  • Design — manufacture — display integrated pipeline
  • Modular space and business rollout: stabilise first, amplify second, incubate third
  • Place-based design: Yuhua pavilion, city-sound keycaps, Hunan hibiscus IP

Outcomes

  • Finalist — Yuhua District 1st Youth Talent Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition
  • Key equipment and supply-chain partnerships secured (Bambu Lab Let's Make It fund, robotic-arm printing manufacturers, filament suppliers)