Projects / 9/15/2025

Reinventing office space in Shanghai

Zoina Land has refurbished its offices with open-plan interiors and a modern urban style

Zoina Land, part of the Zhongnan Group, has refurbished its Shanghai offices with a modern urban style and open-plan interiors. For both floors and walls, the company selected Mapei’s Ultratop Loft system, delivering seamless, durable and elegant cementitious surfaces. Covering over 6,000 m², the project combines minimalist design with high resistance to wear and scratches. The versatile system ensures long-lasting performance without compromising aesthetics. The result is a contemporary workspace that reflects innovation, functionality and refined design.

Shanghai, one of China’s largest cities and a major industrial hub, is home to the Zhongnan Group. Founded in 1988, the group operates across ten industrial sectors, including construction under the Zhongnan Construction brand, Zoina Land brand and other brands. It has a commercial presence in more than 160 cities across China, as well as in overseas markets such as Australia and Algeria.

Zoina Land's Shanghai offices have been refurbished to create clean, minimalist interiors with a distinctly urban and contemporary feel.

Ultratop Loft, a complete system for decorative cementitious surfaces, was chosen for the floor and wall coatings. This system combines exceptional durability with a refined, modern aesthetic and is ideal for applications in both the civil and tertiary sectors.

The Ultratop Loft system was used to create durable and aesthetically pleasing cementitious surfaces on both the floors and walls.

A versatile decorative system

For the floors (approximately 4,200 m²), the substrate was first prepared and cleaned, then primed with two coats of Mapefloor I 900, a two-component epoxy binder applied with a roller until the pores were fully filled. A second coat of Mapefloor I 900, this time filled and broadcast with Quartz 0.5 quartz sand, was then applied. Once hardened, excess quartz sand was removed. The surface was again sanded, and the dust was removed.

A coat of Ultratop Loft F coarse-textured, one-component cementitious paste in the natural colour shade was applied using a flat metal trowel. After approximately six hours, the surface was sanded and coated with a layer of Ultratop Loft W, a fine-textured cementitious paste in the same colour, to achieve the desired trowelled effect. The floor was then protected with a first coat of Mapefloor Finish 52 W, a low-yellowing polyurethane finish, followed by two coats of Mapefloor Finish 58 W, an aliphatic water-dispersed matt polyurethane finish that enhances scratch and wear resistance without altering the colour of the decorative coating.

Ultratop Loft, a complete system for decorative cementitious surfaces, ensured exceptional durability with a refined, modern aesthetic impact

Not just for floors

The Ultratop Loft system previously used on the floors was also chosen for the approximately 2,000 m² of walls. Before application, the surface was treated with Primer G, a water-based adhesion promoter that ensures uniform absorption of the substrate. The walls were then skimmed with Mapei Interior Skim Coat**, a mortar specially formulated for interior applications that combines long-term durability with non-yellowing performance. Once the substrate had dried, the coating system consisting of Ultratop Loft F and Ultratop Loft W was applied, followed by the protective finishes Mapefloor Finish 52 W and Mapefloor Finish 58 W.

The Ultratop Loft system proved ideal for creating a continuous, textured finish that combines design and functionality, perfectly expressing the contemporary urban identity of one of China’s most prominent industrial groups.