In 2025, led by Creative Director Wu Wei, IN.X completed the new interior design for Jinkunge Copper Hot Pot in Xi’an. This 630-square-meter space integrates the grandeur of ancient Chang’an and the vitality of contemporary urban life into its architectural details.

As an emerging brand, Jinkunge aimed to create a replicable chain prototype rooted in authentic culture. The design takes the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda as its spiritual core and urban vibrancy as its contextual thread. The entrance, featuring warm wooden finishes and soft lighting, acts as a threshold between the past and present.

The main hall uses carbonized wood — echoing traditional cave dwellings — and earth-tone paints. Ink-colored bricks shimmer under subtle lighting, reflecting two visions of Chang’an: ancient and modern. Booth areas function as “city walls” with arched openings, evoking the city gates of Chang’an and the enclosed atmosphere of cave dwellings.

A symbolic pagoda structure stands in the inner dining zone, preserving its layered form as a cultural icon. LED lighting, copper chandeliers, and artistic mirrors enhance the details. The open layout and smooth circulation connect the open kitchen, dining areas, and outdoor space, awakening diners’ awareness of cuisine, human connection, and cultural heritage.

This design seamlessly integrates brand identity, cultural connotation, and practical functionality, presenting a unique space that inherits the timeless charm of Chang’an.

Chapter 1: Design Expression – Two Faces of Chang’an
To create architecture and space as enduring as a city, we understand the key lies not in sturdy materials, but in resonance with the times and the emotions it stirs. Between past and present, there is no separation — only continuity and renewal.

The entrance of Jinkunge is both a vessel of history and a prelude to the future. Push open the glass door with a wooden handle, and the light softens. The warm texture of wood forms a gentle threshold. Water-washed sandstone, carbonized wood, earthy and wheat-like yellows, and subtle floating lights… these materials and textures prepare the senses.

Beyond the entrance, the hall opens generously. The space is grounded by carbonized wood and earth-tone finishes. Carbonized wood, once used in cave dwellings and timber structures, echoes the loess hue of traditional yaodong caves. Ink-toned bricks shimmer with fine golden sand under light; urban nightscapes and blurred red tones mirror two Changs’an — one ancient, one modern, one interior, one exterior.

Indoor and outdoor blend through large glass windows. Arrayed red lanterns at the far end cast their warm, rich glow throughout the space. The waiting area overlooks the open kitchen and main dining zone — clinking tableware, savory aromas, clinking glasses, busy staff… In an instant, sounds and scents awaken one’s awareness of a lively world, good food, and human connection.

Chapter 2: Spiritual Intention of the Space
Marked by functional zones — meat display, open kitchen, prep area, and performance stage — the restaurant divides inward circulation into two clear paths: window seats and inner dining areas. The kitchen is discreetly screened by booths, forming smooth, intuitive flow — much like the bustling inner city of ancient Chang’an: broad streets, low-rise buildings, lit homes at dusk, lantern light seeping through paper windows onto stone paths, weaving rivers of warmth.

Booths act as the restaurant’s “city walls,” with arched openings framing dining niches. Traditional Chinese arches, echoing Chang’an’s city gates, are crafted in masonry — supporting structure while framing space, bridging architecture and nature, interior and exterior. They also evoke loess plateau cave dwellings and even primitive cave living: the ultimate harmony between human and nature. The sense of enclosure carries the deep-seated Chinese value of attachment to homeland.
Walking between booths and communal tables toward the inner dining area, a symbolic Giant Wild Goose Pagoda comes into view. Stripped of bracket sets and columns, it retains its signature tiered, tapering form — an outward expression of spirit. Within this quiet, steady structure lies the evolution of Jinkunge, and the millennial transformation of Xi’an itself.

Chapter 3: Convergence, Surprise, Free Flow
LED lights embedded like amber in walls enrich layered lighting and playful details. The rhythm of light and shadow sways diners’ moods, as details emerge and fade gently.
Carbonized wood grain, aged pottery, “paper lanterns” at private room corners… Small, solid copper chandeliers resemble inverted pagodas, or wind chimes ready to sway.

Natural daylight floods in again, echoing the entrance. The splendid glow of copper hot pots mirrors a miniature Chang’an. Though a thousand years apart, in this moment, we feel a brief connection with those who once climbed the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.

A pleasant surprise awaits in the restroom: irregular artistic mirrors resemble giant bubbles. The bustling vitality and grandeur of the age gently settle into calm clarity. The space completes its narrative; diners are left to wander freely in their own emotions.