In 2018, Acts and Pathway’s was commissioned to design the main exhibition of Design City at the inaugural Suzhou International Design Week. We began our design by reflecting on the concept of “city”. Taking inspiration from the “Gusu Water City” and the “Old District and Beaten Alley” of Suzhou, we transformed the “exhibition” into an experience like “walking the streets and alleys”.
We randomly placed various exhibits reflecting the city’s themes in “alleyways” throughout the city, allowing them to tell their own stories, and in doing so, the exhibition tells a story representative of the entire city. The creative process of our design was similar to constructing a city within an exhibition hall, in our handling of spatial relationships we incorporated the experience of walking through the city into the overall design.

《设计之城》是2018年首届苏州国际设计周的主展览，活络受委托负责设计这场立意宏大的展览。我们由“城”的概念出发，从“姑苏水城”和苏州的“老城旧巷”提取灵感，将“看展”转变为“走街串巷”似的体验。 我们把反映城市主题的各式展品随机地穿插在“巷子”里，让它们讲述着自己的故事，同时也借此让展览得以讲述着整个城市的故事。我们的设计过程也好似在展厅里搭建一座城市，处理空间关系，把在城市中行走的感官借用到展览设计之中。