In Beijing, architecture and design studio Penda has completed the interior of a local café using recycled steel bars to serve as modular dividers. Commissioned by property developers Hongkun, the scheme introduces an area of greenery within the city’s heavily polluted atmosphere intended to serve as a precedent that will encourage other Chinese cities to implement similarly green proposals.

Penda says the overarching goal was to create a space for visitors “to take a clean breath of fresh air.” To this end, the firm designed a structural framework of steel bars, in which modular wooden fittings contain any number of elements, most notably easy-to-grow, dry-soil plants like spider plants, aloe, sword fern, marble queen and herbs. These modular dividers are very versatile and can even be used to construct modular homes.