Modum Atelier Renovates Historic Qilou into Minzu Lane Coffee in Zhongshan

Modum Atelier has completed the renovation of Minzu Lane Coffee, a 77-square-meter café located in a traditional qilou building on Minzu Road, a historic street in Zhongshan, China. The building dates back to the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty and features brick masonry and a wooden structure, retaining its original firewalls. The project, completed in 2025, was curated by Han Shuang and led by principal architects Zhou Ruizhe and Yang Kunbo, with a design team including Zhang Siyi and Bao Jiahui. The intervention addressed two challenges: adapting the long, narrow interior for café operations and serving as an incremental renovation to reconnect the building with its historic urban landscape. Photographs were taken by Guowei Liu. The project falls under the categories of renovation and café interiors.