MASTER

Category: Hospitality - Interior Design, Installation
Location: TX Mall, Shanghai, China
Size: 2,440 sq m - XL
Year: 2020

China's #1 Night Venue

A narrative driven Multi-Sensory nightlife odyssey transcends the typical club. MASTER is an experiential journey: a departure lounge lobby leads through disorienting sensory corridors to distinct realms — an Ante Room with raw concrete & tech, a unique oval bathroom/dance floor, Kubrick-inspired lounge, and a diamond shaped main space. It's a versatile, architecturally-driven destination redefining hospitality and performance.

M A S T E R is a journey—an experiential departure from the everyday to the exceptional, crafted as a sequence of spaces that build tension and suspense. If nightclubs offer escapism, this is a launchpad to another dimension.

M A S T E R is an experience. The stark white entry lobby — a sensory “cleansing” — doubles as a departure lounge. Glowing cantilevered boxes serve as high-tech cloakrooms, stripping visitors of worldly burdens.

Journey
No sight, no sound. A 30m corridor deadens senses: sound-absorbing walls, rubber flooring, narrowing architecture, and a ramped floor distort perspective. Darkness is pierced by lidar-tracked footsteps (pixelated light trails) and lasers slicing through haze, revealing smoke’s hypnotic dance.

A mysterious altar-like object, balanced above a reflecting pool, marks arrival in the unknown.

Ante Room
Colossal, earthy-toned concrete walls evoke a timeless future. Analog-tech dials and switches contrast the raw materiality. Two sculptures dominate: a rotating gyroscopic ring and a black liquid pool where sound vibrations ripple visibly.

Bathroom/ Dance Floor
An oval room merges WCs with nightlife: 20 cylindrical cubicles (motorized doors ensure privacy) encircle a central DJ. A hidden male washroom contrasts the stark white; behind one door lies a wood-paneled “powder room,” a surreal escape.

Kubrick-Inspired Lounge
Upside-down furniture, flamingos, and gilt-framed paintings nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Subtle twists—Narcissus’ reflection, Friedrich’s Cloud Sea with a smartphone—hint at modernity’s grip on the sublime.

Main Room
A diamond-shaped arena adapts from daytime light installations (TEAMLAB) to nightclub performances. Tiered seating ensures visibility, while luxury leather furnishings endure dancefloor chaos.

Bar/ Stage Hybrid
A 35m monolithic bar doubles as a stage. Features: fold-up seating, QR-coded liquor lockers (kinetic sculptures), and concealed DJ tables升降 for multi-genre acts. Bass speakers integrate seamlessly into its design, supporting MASTER’s “Funktion One” sound supremacy.

Ambition
Operating 18hrs daily, MASTER hosts brands (Vogue, Fendi) and artists (DJs, live bands), aiming to redefine nightlife as a versatile, sensory odyssey—where analog futurism and otherworldly design converge.