| The Start Place

In 2016, the founder of Atelier-Sizhou, working together with the original team, designed a rustic, free and imaginative red-brick horse farm for the Dargans equestrian brand in Luxelakes, Chengdu. As Luxelakes grew, Dargans became known throughout the city as one of the most recognisable equestrian clubs in Chengdu. The Atelier-Sizhou has been working with Dargans since then, planning and designing a number of equestrian clubs with different locations and clientele.

| Design-Operation Alignment

This project is located on the corner of the third floor of COFCO Joy City in Tianfu New District, Chengdu, with an external view. Previously, few equestrian clubs have been located in shopping malls due to the constraints of ventilation, floor height and site size. Therefore, in the early stage of the design, we worked with the owner from the perspective of combining design and commercial operation, suggesting that this place can be positioned as an incubation base for beginners and competitors, which requires less constraints on the venue. At the same time, we also integrated the exhibition, study base and theme restaurant, hoping to enhance the interest of the project and weaken the constraints of the venue on the professionalism of equestrianism.

| Design Challenges

During the design process, we were challenged by the irregularity of the site, the high hygiene standards of the shopping malls and the high indoor ground floor height that might give the project a sense of oppression. Therefore, we decided to maximise the space for the equestrian training ground while meeting the basic demands of the equestrian club: we prioritised a piece of space for the training ground in the irregular site; in addition, we placed the stables and other difficult-to-clean areas at the back of the site, while displaying the showroom and the restaurant in front of the site, and avoided the use of design language to block the view and the flow of people from the outside.

| Return and Distance

During the design process, we were challenged by the irregularity of the site, the high hygiene standards of the shopping malls and the high indoor ground floor height that might give the project a sense of oppression. Therefore, we decided to maximise the space for the equestrian training ground while meeting the basic demands of the equestrian club: we prioritised a piece of space for the training ground in the irregular site; in addition, we placed the stables and other difficult-to-clean areas at the back of the site, while displaying the showroom and the restaurant in front of the site, and avoided the use of design language to block the view and the flow of people from the outside.