A "Snow Lotus Highlights" Dongsi Cultural and Creative Park, which is close to dongsi subway station, quietly opened in beijing in winter.
The old neighborhoods around Dongsi found that the Sanyou Mall, which closed in March last year, became a revitalized cultural and creative park after being closed for a period of time. The original outdated building façade and cluttered shops have been renovated into a simple white building, and the warm light from the transparent glass floor-to-ceiling windows along the street attracts passers-by.
"The update is a small urban scene, and it plays a big role in life." After some netizens clocked in "Snow Lotus Highlights", the impression left was "a good place to take photos quietly" and "simple and low-key luxury".
As soon as the Cultural and Creative Park opened, it announced its positioning as an "Urban Cultural Corner" with a theme design exhibition entitled "Dialogue with the City: Contemporary Expression in Commercial Renewal". On that day, many designers, architects and urban planners came here, sat on the stairs of the "Occasional" theater, listened to Ding Ping, curator and founder of the highlight park, talk about the origin of this new art and cultural space, and discuss the experience of urban renewal.
Ding Ping, who lived in London, Bangkok and Edinburgh in his early years, was a lighting designer in his professional status. After returning to Beijing 20 years ago, he frequently took over various renovation projects of old buildings, and "Xuelian Highlights" is the sixth project of the Highlight Park.
Ding Ping told First Finance and Economics that the predecessor of "Snow Lotus Highlights" Sanyou Shopping Center is a veteran department store in Beijing built in 1985. This shopping mall, which mainly sells cashmere sweaters and other textiles, carries the memories of a generation of old Beijingers, and the first cashmere sweater in New China is the Xuelian brand. As early as 1994, the annual sales of Sanyou Mall exceeded 100 million, and the business area was expanded from the earliest 500 square meters to 5,000 square meters.
With the development of e-commerce, the traditional format of shopping malls no longer adapts to the Internet era, and it is difficult for middle-aged and elderly consumer groups to support their operations, and they were once depressed and deserted. Since 2019, many established department stores such as Beijing Scitech Shopping Center have closed their stores for renovation and transformation, transforming and upgrading into new spaces more suitable for young consumer groups. Under this wave of "business reform", Sanyou Shopping Mall has also joined in, transforming from an old shopping mall into a cultural and creative park, becoming an emerging case in the construction of "East Cultural City".
Ding Ping invited seven or eight designers, including architect Xu Yunfei, to participate in the transformation of the old shopping mall, which is no longer adapted to the new era, into a new commercial space of 9,000 square meters that integrates business, culture, science and technology, fashion, creativity and emerging industries, giving new life to the old building.
Mini garden, the stage of the city
What is the soul of an architecture? When doing every old building renewal project, Ding Ping will think clearly about this problem. The reason why Shijian Architectural Firm was able to PK other architectural firms was precisely because the architect Xu Yunfei's concept coincided with her, "We have a consensus to be a city stage, so that all the beauty can be seen." ”
After the first survey of the site, Xu Yunfei quickly determined the framework of the building transformation, passed the first draft in five days, and had the design idea of "urban stage". As a post-90s architect, his foothold is young people. He wanted to make the new space a place where young people wanted to visit, and to give new life to the building with the young people's way of life.
In the original architectural drawings, Xu Yunfei envisioned with romantic feelings that the old building originally had a deserted retreat, disorganized, and if it could be transformed into a split-level open-air garden, it would become a vivid urban landscape, and he wanted to plant trees on the terrace, "Everyone can drink, read poetry, sing, and propose marriage here." ”
Ding Ping said, "The reason why we chose a post-90s architect is to make the building closer to the heartbeat and pulse of young people in the city." ”
Although the idea of a split-level terrace was ultimately not realized for various reasons, an open roof garden was retained at the top of the building, and eleven mini gardens of different styles were scattered inside. Eleven gardens have their own names, the "dripping garden" on the first floor, like a corner of the interior of a traditional old building, stepping through the stone road and pushing open the small door, you can directly step into the alley.
The existence of the garden makes this art and cultural space that integrates office functions become vivid, and people can leave the working environment at any time, go to the garden to relax, breathe freely, and receive friends.
In addition to the architect Xu Yunfei, various designers play their own creativity in the Cultural and Creative Park. Designer Jia Li made an art installation of the arched door at the entrance, floral designer Guan Yue made a garden installation of "Shan Hai Jing", and the roof of the "Mountain Friends Garden" came from designer Song Xi.
"Occasional" theater
The most impressive thing in the Cultural and Creative Park is a "occasional" theater.
The so-called theater is actually a narrow and high space, with wooden steps, and acoustic designers and lighting engineers are invited to create a small theater that meets the acoustic requirements. The walls on both sides of the theater, with rough cement traces, stand on the steps of the theater, and the sunlight scatters down from the glass windows. Follow the steps up and down the winding staircase to reach the roof garden.
Ding Ping regards it as the soul of the entire building transformation. So far, the "Occasional" Theater has held design lectures, concerts, launches and other activities. This space, like a building atrium, is, in her words, a transparent place, accessible to both sunlight and wind, and a place where urban people can breathe.
In the future, she envisions, people can meet the needs of people, where they can drink coffee, chat, hold meetings, organize salons, hold small poetry readings or concerts, and even come here with sleeping bags to see the stars. ”
"If it's a newly built space, it doesn't have to have that charm." Ding Ping said that the molding process of the theater was completely accidental.
Originally a textile factory, the building was built in the 1980s as an area of just over 500 square meters, and has been expanded over the next decade or so, leading to the historical relics left behind by the expansion – the "scissors" staircase spanning two buildings. When used as a shopping mall, the staircase can play a role in slowing down the flow of people and connecting the two buildings. But in the renovation, the "scissors" staircase to stay, quite expensive for the designer to think.
Xu Yunfei originally wanted to change the "scissors" staircase into a very narrow art museum, some people suggested making it into an art installation, some people proposed to transform it into a lawn or a winter garden, and the inspiration outside the various schemes kept colliding.
Eventually, Yidi Construction founder and designer Lian Zhiming took over the design of the atrium area, demolishing the staircase, retaining the cement wall, and laying wooden stairs to make a narrow and interesting theater. For those rough cement walls that have been preserved, Ding Ping feels that it symbolizes the link between the industrial age and the present, recording the memory of the city's past.
Create a humanistic beauty creation space
"Snow Lotus Highlights" Cultural and Creative Park is part of the overall renovation plan of Beijing East Fourth Avenue, which is the first cultural and creative park under Beijing Fashion Holdings located in the core area of Beijing, and the first cultural and creative park built since the beginning of the "14th Five-Year Plan".
"The completion of the building renovation is only the first step in the long march." Ding Ping said that the energy and experience required for the subsequent operation of the cultural and creative park are far more difficult than simple transformation.
Ding Ping once transformed the Beijing Computer Factory No. 2 into a highlight cultural and creative park, becoming a model for the renewal of old buildings in the second ring road of Beijing. This cultural and creative park is also the concept of "humanistic garden" and "humanistic beauty creation space", integrating art, design, environmental protection and health themes into public spaces, and there are three open-air gardens and an art exhibition hall in the park.
What makes the highlight of the cultural and creative park famous is that the fitness app unicorn Keep was once hatched here. The founder of this company, Wang Ning, is a post-90s generation, who chose to start a business in the Highlights Cultural and Creative Park because of the relaxed literary and artistic office style here, and Ding Ping also saw the startup develop from the earliest 50 people to 500 people, becoming a fitness application giant. In 2019, Keep moved his headquarters to Vanke Wangjing Center, rented an office of more than 10,000 square meters, and on the last day of leaving the Highlight Cultural and Creative Park, Wang Ning was very sad, "Walking through all the corners of the highlights, four years, almost every corner has a story." ”
When it comes to how to do a good job in the cultural and creative park, Ding Ping's experience is that he must keep his original intention and be professional enough. First of all, on the basis of the renovation of old buildings, the products and services are done to the extreme. The most test for operators is how to do a good job of daily activities and exhibitions, and attract different partners with an international vision, so as to truly activate the vitality of the Cultural and Creative Park.
At present, the investment of "Xuelian Highlights" Cultural and Creative Park has reached 60%, the enterprises and merchants in the Cultural and Creative Park will be settled one after another, and the first-floor café of architect Xu Yunfei will also open in the near future.
By May next year, Ding Ping thought that there would be a normal flow of people here, people working here, visitors could come in to see the exhibition or visit, "at that time, it will be a very elegant environment that reflects the value of the city center." ”