Following on from Simple Art Museum, Simple Cuisine Gallery and Restaurant, and Simple Craft Collection in the Simple portfolio, HAS design and research has now completed Simple Design Archive, a composite museum that collects contemporary Asian artworks and modern Northern European furniture. Once again, the material and colour palette are minimal with a white background that becomes the canvas on which to create for the architects, Jenchieh Hung and Kulthida Songkittipakdee.

The Simple Design Archive is located in Hefei, within the picturesque mountain scenery and unique landscape of Anhui province, China that was the inspiration for the project. The entrance of the Simple Design Archive is completely different from conventional museums where entry usually opens directly to the outside. As the surrounding environment of the museum is extremely busy, Hung And Songkittipakdee (HAS) have designed ten curved walls at the entrance. Not only do the gradient heights of the separate walls act as an acoustic blocking mechanism from the external roads but they also create an intimate echo or sound chamber of their own.

Positioned at the entrance the space attracts insects and animals such as cicadas and birds and becomes a natural micro-ecosystem that is restful for visitors. The internal volume is influenced by the external architecture, with the curved walls extending from the outside to the inside. This in turn becomes a transitional space that helps blur the boundaries of inside and outside.

Visitors pass through the foyer to reach the curved gallery and the towering walls of the exterior seasonal skylight forest garden feature a five-metre-high skylight. The forest is bathed in light throughout the day and shadows change according to the season and time. There is a timeless quality to this unique aesthetic that is unlike other public spaces. On the other side of the site, continuous and unending walls delineate the art and materials library where art collections are presented along with handcrafted timber furniture. Here there is time to relax and sit to view all that is on show.

Cleverly, the architects have designed continuous walls to distinguish the interior and exterior walls that also act as wayfinding, are utilised for displays and provide storage. Simple Design Archive is a deeply meditative design that is also a sanctuary away from a busy city life. The architecture helps to transport visitors to another world that is both calm and mindful.

In this project, architects Jenchieh Hung and Kulthida Songkittipakdee, principals of HAS design and research, have once again provided a transcendental architectural experience for the user, where that which surrounds people, both informs and relaxes them.

This is architecture that weaves its magic and transports people through an ethereal journey of discovery. It showcases design ideas that radically change the expectations of what a site can be and how a space is to be used.

HAS design and research has been shortlisted for this project in The Retail Space category at the 2025 INDE.Awards and has also been shortlisted in The Social Space for Simple Cuisine Gallery and Restaurant and The Influencer for Aluminium Grotto and Public Ground.

HAS design and research
hasdesignandresearch.com

Photography
W Workspace