Founded in Shanghai in 2016, atelier tao+c’s practice spans diverse scopes and scales—from a single pendant light to an entire neighborhood, from urban micro-residential interiors to rural house renovations, and from street-front retail to youth communities. Alongside their practical work, they focus on research topics such as building adaptive reuse and the domestic settlement of objects in living spaces. Free from the constraints of typology and scale, the studio approaches every design with a focus on scale, construction, proximity and intimacy, and the reconciliation of the past with the immediate present. By reconstructing the exploration and understanding of typology, they seek to reveal the latent possibilities of each site.
Their design methodology is semi-architectural and semi-interior, retreating into the interior to allow space to grow from within and break through boundaries, establishing connections in the often-overlooked gap between architecture and interior design. The studio seeks to create a delicate, well-proportioned sense of scale, both inside and out, using elemental forms, clear proportions, and unexpected sectional shifts. By exploring direct, everyday local materials and construction methods, they translate these into a profound expression of craftsmanship and detail, allowing life to unfold in all its complexity within simplicity.
The studio's work has been featured in books by publishers such as Gestalten and Phaidon, and widely published in leading design media both domestically and internationally, including The Architectural Review, AIT, Azure, Wallpaper*, ArchDaily, Dezeen, Yellowtrace, DIVISARE, AD China, ELLE DECOR China, IDEAT, Position, and gooood.
