Architectural firm Unknown Works has used 3D scans of real British ‘chippy’ store to create a replica Chengdu fish & chip shop in China.

The London- and Hong Kong-based studio scanned stores throughout Britain, producing digital reproductions of selected scanned features in alabaster white glass reinforced plastic to create the 33sqm corner shop – named “Scotts” – in a Swire estate.

A Designboom review states that “every door that makes up the elevation unfolds to form both the characterful face to the newly transplanted chippy as well as acting as the integrated furniture for this compact but prominent intervention. Tables unfold from the centre of each panel giving each diner a framed view of their neighbours.”

Lidar scanning and photogrammetry techniques were used to create a catalogue of digital elements that were drawn on in the design process to create the facades for Scotts.

The project is expected to be the first in a series of conceptual works that challenges notions of corporate copycatting and reframes what can be said to constitute cultural exchange.