DEJA-VU: Reviving Gray Spaces through Adaptive Urban Furniture in Chengdu
Revitalizing Chengdu’s gray spaces with adaptive urban furniture that blends cultural heritage with modern urban living.
In the heart of Chengdu, where ancient rhythms of life now pulse alongside rapid urban development, a unique architectural intervention has emerged to reawaken the city's fading communal traditions. Titled Deja-vu, this innovative project by Sun Qiyang, Gong Xi, and Minghan Li proposes a flexible, adaptive urban furniture system that revitalizes the "gray spaces" squeezed between the old and the new.
Shortlisted in the Urbanscape: Symbiosis competition, Deja-vu responds to the encroachment of modern city life on historically rich but increasingly marginalized public zones. These gray areas, once bustling with social and cultural activity, are now often overlooked. The project presents an optimistic vision: to reignite the cultural potential of these in-between spaces using modular, furniture-scale interventions.
At its core, Deja-vu introduces adaptive urban furniture designed through the strategic overlapping of panels. The modular units can transform into various configurations—chairs, recliners, tables, or even informal play structures. This versatility enables users to personalize the setup to meet their evolving needs, encouraging longer engagement and community interaction in semi-public zones.
The design incorporates three pillars: Life, Play, and Light. The 'Life' module supports flexible seating and resting; 'Play' promotes informal recreation and child-friendly features; and 'Light' integrates shared, USB-powered lighting to ensure safe and usable environments at night. Together, these elements provide multifunctional utility while preserving the spatial intimacy of traditional Chengdu streets.
By embracing the historical layering of Chengdu’s urban fabric, Deja-vu becomes more than a furniture system—it is a cultural microcosm. The design is deeply contextual, mapping Chengdu’s transformation from 1933 to the present while emphasizing continuity through spatial memory. Users are not just provided with physical infrastructure, but also invited to relive and reinterpret the communal rituals once prevalent in these spaces.
Ultimately, Deja-vu exemplifies how adaptive urban furniture can mediate between past and present, tradition and innovation. It is a vision of Chengdu where heritage is not erased but evolved, and where architecture becomes a quiet but powerful facilitator of urban empathy.
