Press Release
Wei Xiaodong Is Honored with the Bronze A' Design Award for Physics Vaults Exhibition Design in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
Wei Xiaodong acknowledged for interior space and exhibition design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 24, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Physics Vaults Exhibition Design by Wei Xiaodong, designed for Beijing Four-Face lmage Environmental Art Design Co., Ltd., has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category. The recognition forms part of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
More About Physics Vaults Exhibition Design
Physics Vaults is an exhibition design for a science museum in Shandong, China. The interior covers about 7,000 square meters and holds five exhibition halls, an entrance zone and an immersive ring space. The halls are framed by a sequence of diminishing arches cast in a single pour of fair-faced concrete. The arched shells work as structure and as hidden cavities for building services and media systems. Large-scale apparatus, steel walkways, perforated metal and concealed lighting guide visitors through five key experiment scenes, making complex physics content easier to understand.
About Wei Xiaodong
As a design studio in China, “SX” stands for Chinese “ShangXiang” which taken from “Yi Chuan”. The name expounds our core opinion: To build significance of daily life through the observation, extraction, abstraction and reorganization of phenomena. sxdesign creates and values languages and ideas of client and user, such as requirements, knowledge, or the attitude of sxdesign itself.
Award Record
This recognition makes Wei Xiaodong a winner of 20 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2020 - 2021 and the 2025 - 2026 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award
The A' Interior Design Award is an international interior design competition recognizing good interior designs by interior designers and architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interior designers, interior architects, architects and decorators from all countries. Typical entries include residential interiors, restaurants, hotels, offices, galleries and retail stores. The awarded interior designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/interior
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/178844
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/178844
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!178844
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/304255
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Physics Vaults Exhibition Design
- Function
- Exhibition Design
- Category
- Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Dark Slate Gray, Black, Saddle Brown, Firebrick and Brown
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Beijing Four-Face lmage Environmental Art Design Co., Ltd.
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Wei Xiaodong
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #178844
Credits
- Team
- Wei Xiaodong, Tan Ying, Yu Lihan, Chen Zhengye, Zhang Rong
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Based on five key experiment scenes, including particle accelerators, the design features a sequence of halls framed by diminishing concrete arches. By integrating realistic large-scale apparatus with raw architectural form, the space fuses artistic immersion, scientific cognition, and philosophical speculation. This creates a top-tier innovative science museum experience, transforming engineering physics into a profound dialogue on humanity's shared pursuit of truth.
- Inspiration
- Inspiration comes from the spatial language of high-energy physics infrastructure. Arches echo underground tunnels and protective bunkers, while exposed concrete conveys engineering rationality and authenticity. The space turns complex, expert-level knowledge into accessible experience, letting each visitor feel both their own scale and humanity's shared quest to understand the universe.
- Research
- The research focuses on exhibition and experiential space design, exploring how spatial language can connect advanced physics experiments with everyday public understanding. Grounded in scientific rigor and empirical observation, it examines how scale, material and narrative flow shape cognition and emotion, turning the science museum into a bridge between researchers and society and passing scientific spirit to younger generations.
- Challenge
- The main challenge was to integrate exhibition content and construction into a single system rather than simply adding displays to a finished shell. Large-span concrete arches had to work simultaneously as structure and service cavity while still supporting clear sightlines and narrative flow. At the same time, expert-level physics content needed to remain scientifically precise yet legible to non-specialist visitors.
- Realization and Technology
- Arched shells are cast in a single pour of fair-faced concrete, serving as both primary structure and hidden cavity for MEP and media systems. Realistic large-scale apparatus is set directly against these raw surfaces to meet core science-education needs, while steel walkways, perforated metal and concealed lighting add an almost theatrical vividness, unifying exhibition and construction into one engineering-physics narrative.
- Operation and Interaction
- The design employs a dynamic narrative where spatial structure is isomorphic to the exhibition flow. Visitors traverse a sequence of diminishing arches, mirroring the focusing trajectory of particle beams. This progression connects five thematic halls, shifting focus from macro-scale apparatus to micro-scale artifacts. The journey flows from rational observation to immersive contemplation, ensuring physical movement aligns perfectly with the unfolding scientific story.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in 2015 in Shandong, China and finished in 2021.
- Specifications
- The interior comprises five main exhibition halls, an entrance zone and an immersive ring space, with a total designed area of approximately 7,000 square meters.
- Keywords
- Exhibition Design, Science Museum, Fair-faced Concrete, Particle Physics, Arch Structure, Spatial Narrative, Immersive Experience, Engineering Aesthetics, Integration
