August 11, 2022 Pansy Schulman KEYWORDS China / installation Order Reprints No Comments Architects & FirmsPines Arch ✕

The “Wormhole,” by Beijing-based architecture firm Pines Arch, is the focal point of beauty company Golong’s innovative headquarters in Hangzhou, China. Inside the soaring curvilinear space, which leads to three art galleries (one of the office building’s many amenities), white GRC panels extend from floor to ceiling in undulating waves, making visitors feel as if they are floating in space.

Accessible via tunnel-like corridors that hover slightly above the ground, the Wormhole was “intentionally created to contain a blank slate, in which any human presence or activity would colonize the spaces and create contexts of its own,” said the team at Pines Arch in a statement. On a practical level, the surreal, hypnotic space acts as a venue for formal events and exhibitions; the steps extending from the floor can comfortably seat 60. When not in use, employees use the space to unwind and socialize.