Zhanwang Zhang

MA Interior Design, Royal College of Art, London, UK. 2020-2022

Exchange student, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Dessau, Germany. June-July 2019

BA Environmental Design, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China. 2016-2020

Fountain of Youth

My project 'fountain of youth' explores cinematic experience generated through interior design, discovers the emotions, memories and fantasies that are generated by those dream-like environments.

The chosen site is a former Victorian post office in Lowestoft. Abandoned for years, the historic complex is filled with fascinating grand and hidden spaces, remnants of historic decorations and past objects. I was inspired by those past objects and developed a strong 'affection' with them which lead to my discovery of a methodology that is to amplify, reflect those found objects on site and recreate some of the sceneries that emerged in my imagination.

The project accommodates a bath spa and a pub, both are vulnerable and disappearing social functions in today's society. I've designed a series of rooms and spaces filled with my 'object affection', its cinematic decoration and materiality. I blurred boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces, delivered a confused sense of time. I imagined the social interactions and fantasies that comes with the it, which was featured in the animated film I made. Narratives are suggestive, plots are flexible.