CHICAGO — IIDA proudly announces Pulse On Partnership Limited of Hong Kong as the Best of Competition winner of the 2020 Best of Asia Pacific Design Awards for their project, SFC SHANGYING CINEMA LUXE in Suzhou, China.

This competition honors and celebrates the highest level of design excellence in interior design/interior architecture projects throughout the Asia Pacific region. The studio was chosen from 17 category winners and announced as the Best of Competition winner during a virtual awards ceremony hosted by IIDA Headquarters on January 13.

“The team at Pulse On Partnership Limited impressed the jury with their design mastery and ability to elevate the modern cinema experience,” said IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA. “We’re continuously moved by the design showcased at the Best of Asia Awards and are proud to honor Pulse On for this sophisticated project.”

The design team was inspired by the name of the shopping center where the cinema is located, which contains a Chinese character meaning “piano,” and their desire to honor film and music. This resulted in the “strings” theme, pushing beyond the traditional cinema design by combining the commonalities between music and movies.

Projects were reviewed by a panel of design professionals, including Jungin (Jay) Chang, architectural designer, Kostow Greenwood; Ming Thompson, IIDA, AIA, co-founder, Atelier Cho Thompson; and Kim Yao, AIA, principal, Architecture Research Office.

“The SFC SHANGYING CINEMA LUXE project displays outstanding design and a transformative storyline. A coherent narrative can be felt as movie-goers journey from the public lobby spaces into the theaters,” said Thompson on behalf of the jury.

All winning projects can be viewed on IIDA.org and in the winners brochure. For more information, contact Clare Socker, design competitions manager, at csocker@iida.org.