As the everyday vitality of neighbourhood streets fades, and as busy urban life leaves many with little time even for regular meals, design takes on renewed responsibility. As designers, we see Shanghai’s wave of urban regeneration as an opportunity not only to shape buildings, but to recreate vibrant community life—responding to local needs, serving daily convenience, and benefiting residents.
Bright City Kitchen embodies this vision: redefining everyday spaces, bringing people together, and enriching neighbourhoods.
On 16 June, the Caojiadu Civic Center officially opened at 888 Changping Road in Jing’an District, with the debut of Bright City Kitchen, Changping Road store as its anchor program. Benoy’s scope of work encompassed the integrated renovation of both façades and interiors for the street-facing commercial buildings along Jing’an District Stadium, transforming them into a vibrant new destination for the community.
Jointly developed by Guangming Food Group and the Caojiadu Subdistrict Office, Bright City Kitchen is a community livelihood project that pioneers the innovative “community canteen+” model. It stands as a new benchmark for government – enterprise collaboration in shaping Shanghai’s 15-minute community life circle, while serving as a locally grounded practice of urban renewal expressed through architecture.
By uniting functions of dining, leisure, strolling, reading, and social interaction, the project has quickly become a vibrant community landmark. Its success has attracted attention from across society and has been widely featured by major media outlets including CCTV News, Shanghai Television, SMG Metro Channel, and Xinmin Evening News.
Façade Design: Bridging Tradition and Modernity
The Benoy design team created a distinctive street-facing identity for Bright City Kitchen, interpreting the values of “respect and innovation” within the context of urban renewal. The bespoke aluminum-brick façade was not a simple decorative choice, but a deep response to the neighbourhood’s fabric — the historic grain of surrounding alleyway houses and brick public housing is naturally extended through the masonry of these specially crafted bricks.
Inspired by Guangming’s classic ice brick ice cream, a simple white block beloved across generations, the design translates this cultural icon into architecture. A brand-specific Bordeaux red was precisely tuned to carry that shared taste memory into a tactile spatial texture, transforming an everyday symbol of nostalgia into a contemporary urban landmark.
A defining feature of Bright City Kitchen is the narrative quality of its façade. At the entrance, red aluminum panels are composed with lightness and precision, using modern construction logic to avoid the heaviness of traditional brickwork while still retaining a sense of warmth and familiarity.
Completing the composition, crisp white canopies provide a striking accent. Its carefully measured cantilever both reflects Guangming Dairy’s brand identity and reinterprets the shading elements of old breakfast shops as a contemporary installation that enlivens the streetscape.
This dialogue between old and new materials allows the building to integrate seamlessly into its community context, while maintaining a distinct identity as a visual anchor for neighbourhood renewal.
Inside the kitchen: A space that lives with the community
Inside, the design breaks beyond the conventional boundaries of dining venues, evolving into a hybrid public space that carries community vitality. Rooted in the wider vision of urban renewal, the interior uses thoughtful spatial planning to translate the concept of the “15-minute life circle” into a tangible experience — accommodating quick meals, leisurely gatherings, and everyday connection.
A standout innovation is the “boundaryless space” design strategy. Movable tables and chairs in the outdoor dining area allow a seamless transformation from dining zone to community market in just 15 minutes. A circular dining loop connects diverse functional areas, evoking the rhythm of city streets and alleyways. A dedicated reading corner, softly separated with green partitions, offers a quiet retreat by day and becomes a community classroom at night. With this capacity for rapid scene-shifting, the 800-square-metre venue generates community value far beyond its physical footprint.
Designing beyond buildings: Renewing everyday life
Within Caojiadu’s wider urban renewal vision, Bright City Kitchen has moved beyond its role as a dining venue to become a social connector for the neighbourhood. In the mornings, it serves as an energy stop for office workers; at noon, a gathering place for seniors; by evening, a space for parents to meet and connect; and on weekends, it transforms into a lively community market. This rhythm of all-day vitality exemplifies the principle of “preservation through use”—allowing architecture to continuously grow new meaning and value through everyday community life.
Project Information
Scope:
Façade design, interior design
Type:
Renovation, commercial, F&B
Client:
Guangming Food Group
Scale:
597 sqm
Lead Designer:
Qin Pang
Project Director:
Yejia Zhu
Design Team:
Hao Ding, Qidan Chen
