Hangzhou · Pushu Qingzhiwu Store

Piaosu Restaurant's Qingzhiwu branch in Hangzhou is a renovation of a nine-year-old restaurant that had grown worn and dysfunctional. The site lies in Qingzhiwu, a historic village settlement dating to the Jin Dynasty and celebrated by the Tang poet Bai Juyi in his verses about the Jade Spring Temple. Nestled between Zhejiang University to the north and the Hangzhou Botanical Garden to the south, near the famous Ling Peak plum-blossom trail, Qingzhiwu has long been a cherished leisure destination. The original restaurant, opened in 2012 and known for its accessible Hangzhou cuisine, suffered from a string of operational problems: a direct street-level entry that felt imposing, an overly long circulation path to the remote B building, toilets awkwardly embedded in the dining area, conflicting guest and service routes, a crude plastic-film enclosure of the terrace, and inadequate lighting and ceiling height on the third floor. The redesign by Hangzhou Guantang Interior Design re-conceived the entry as a courtyard between the two buildings, allowing guests to split left or right according to their reservations and eliminating cross-traffic. The former service corridor was transformed into a shaded arrival court covered by a gridded glass canopy that keeps out rain while admitting light. A large raw-stone stair ascends past an Indonesian carved-wood door, while the facade combines earth-toned plaster, weathered old elm, natural stone veneer, vintage doors, rattan chairs, fabric sofas, and mid-century lighting fixtures. Because the two original buildings were separate farmhouses with fragmented, unevenly leveled spaces, the design exploited that very condition by turning every connecting passage into a gallery corridor. The owner, a serious collector, displays his carved-wood panels, stone sculptures, and rescued architectural fragments along these routes, so that reaching a dining room becomes a slow stroll through a personal museum. A set of round-arched lattice windows salvaged from a demolished old Shanghai villa was carefully incorporated into the facade, and new windows echo the same vintage detailing. A lotus pond in front, mature ancient trees, and a balcony dining area that frames distant hills complete the immersion in nature. The roughly 1,000-square-meter project was completed in July 2022, with construction by Hangzhou Jiuwei Decoration and lighting by Hangzhou Jianhe Lighting. Primary materials include handmade brick, natural weathered stone, reclaimed wood, and inorganic terrazzo. The result is a restaurant that grows with the city, holding the memories of students, tourists, and local hikers alike while offering a quiet, rooted alternative to the commercial strip outside.