Every year, there is a lot of talk about new and historic buildings around the world. The Paper has selected 10 architectural cases from 2023, which are both looking back on the past and facing the future.
In recent years, renovation and renovation have been a key word. From the renovation of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, to the renovation and expansion of the Bund in Shanghai by Pritzker Prize winner David Chipperfield, to the renovation of the Brooklyn Power Plant in New York by another Priderick laureate, Herzog de Meuron, to the construction of the new Sanxingdui Building, these important projects this year show how architects have added new vitality and function to architectural sites full of historical memory from respecting history.
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France
- After the fire, it took 4 years for the spire to reappear
Notre-Dame Cathedral, this old building is certainly not new, but due to a fire, it has become the focus of the architectural community in recent years.
On April 15, 2019, a fire broke out at Notre Dame Cathedral, destroying more than two-thirds of the top of the tower and collapsing the iconic spire. So far, the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral has been the focus of attention in France and even around the world, and the restoration around it has also attracted different ideas and debates.
Notre-Dame Cathedral before the fire and fire
On what basis should the iconic minaret be restored and in what form? In 2019, GoArchitect submitted a competition for the renovation of Notre Dame Cathedral and received 226 proposals from 56 countries. One of the most popular is the "Heartbeat of Paris" by Chinese designers Zeyu Cai and Sibei Li, whose original oak spire has been replaced with a kaleidoscope glass roof. However, this hilarious competition was not officially certified by France. The French Senate strongly opposed the new spire, and after a vote by the National Assembly, it was decided to leave it as it was.
The 93-metre-high spire is an important symbol of Notre-Dame Cathedral, the most damaged part of the fire and one of the most difficult to repair
The 93-metre-high spire is an important symbol of Notre-Dame Cathedral, the most damaged part of the fire and one of the most difficult to repair. As a Gothic building, the pointed triangular spire has always been Notre-Dame's most striking feature. This year, Notre-Dame de Paris, which has been under construction for more than four years, has also ushered in major progress: the collapsed nave vault has been topped out, and the iconic minaret has been assembled, which can be dismantled and reopened to the public. The re-erected spire is an exact replica of the original, requiring more than 1,000 oak trees with a diameter of more than 1 meter and a height of more than 20 meters.
In addition, the blackened interior of the church has been largely cleaned. The blackened stone revealed its original color, the church painting was given a new look, and the scaffolding inside was demolished. The overall appearance of the building has been restored to its majestic appearance, and some more detailed and elaborate work is also being carried out in an orderly manner.
The first vault of the nave has finally been restored, and the stained glass windows and eight bronze bells in Notre-Dame Cathedral have been cleaned and restored to their glory. At the same time, new worship furniture, chairs and reliquaries, specially made by artists, have been added to the interior, making the style of the church more simple and noble.
Notre Dame Cathedral under renovation
Notre Dame Cathedral under renovation
It is reported that the restoration project is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and nearly 1,000 people in France are working on the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral every day, and more than 500 people are working on the site. Even though it's still under construction, it's still an important event that people want to hold here. This September, the 40th edition of the European Heritage Days took place in the forecourt of the Cathedral. With the spire erected again, there is a little more confidence in its early completion. (Synthesized from "The Bund" and previous reports by The Paper)
Killa Design: Museum of the Future, Dubai, UAE
- A futuristic "spaceship" stands tall in the city
If the topic of Notre Dame Cathedral relies on its historical memory and emotional power, then Dubai's architecture is undoubtedly a vision of the future.
At the beginning of the year, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a futuristic metal ring "spaceship" stood tall in the city. This is the Museum of the Future in Dubai, located on a green mound with an oval-shaped hollow ring that looks like a phoenix eye watching the city from afar. The museum has also been named one of the most beautiful museums on the planet by National Geographic.
Museum of the Future, Dubai
The Dubai Museum of the Future covers an area of 30,000 square meters, with a height of about 77m and a total of 7 floors. These include 6 exhibition floors and 1 executive floor, 3 levels of podium and a food and beverage deck with an auditorium, retail, parking and service facilities. It cost 500 million dirhams, equivalent to about 900 million yuan.
Designed by Killa Design and Buro Happold, the museum's exquisite craftsmanship and extraordinary spatial experience make Dubai another futuristic building that "surpasses imagination". Designer Shaun Killa says that the green hills represent the earth – stable, eternal, and indestructible, and the "hollow" represents the "unknown" and those inventors who seek to explore the unknown, discover new horizons and ideas that help guide humanity towards a better future.
Design sketch of the Museum of the Future in Dubai
The silver building skin is made up of stainless steel sheets, and the ring façade on the podium roof includes 1,024 flame-retardant composite panels. Each panel is covered in stainless steel, and intricate artistic calligraphy is printed on the surface of the building in 3D. The entire building is framed by 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members, and there is not a single column in the interior. The structure also provides open space for the interior of the building without the need for columns, and the intersecting skeletons provide shading, significantly reducing the need for energy. In addition, sustainability is a major driver of the future museum design, and the project uses passive solar design, low- and low-water engineering solutions, energy and water recovery strategies, and the construction of an integrated renewable energy source using an off-site solar farm located on the roof of a nearby parking garage building. The park around the building is home to 80 species of plants and is equipped with an intelligent automatic irrigation system.
Interior of the Museum of the Future in Dubai
Inside, the museum offers a surreal experience. The interior space is divided into seven floors, each with a different exhibition theme. In the exhibition hall, "Outer Space", "Bioengineering", "Ecosystem", "Health" and "Mind" are exhibited in a scientific and technological way. Walking into the museum, the hall of sci-fi blockbusters peels the audience away from reality. Transparent capsule elevators and mechanical monsters flying in the air show the future world of 2071. The "Journey to the future" special zone takes the viewer through the perspective of time and space, taking the viewer into a glimpse of the imaginary future. On the International Space Station, as an astronaut, watch the Moon be used as a renewable energy source. In addition, "Tomorrow Today" takes visitors on how new technologies are changing lives, while the "Future Heroes" zone is designed for children to explore the future through interactive play collaboration.
The contents on the building's façade are poems written by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, on the theme of Dubai's future. It is to the effect that the future belongs to those who dare to imagine, design, and execute, and cannot rely on waiting, but need to create by themselves. The secret of our life renewal, civilization evolution, and future development is simple: innovation. Although human beings have a limited lifespan, our creations will be passed on for centuries.
Design renderings of the Dubai Art Museum
It's worth mentioning that this is not the only venue with such a futuristic feel. This year, Kalbod Studio has unveiled a new work, the Dubai Art Museum. The venue will have a "double shell" design, allowing people to enter the building but still be visible from the outside. The first outer layer is transparent, and the dynamics of the interior can be seen from the outside, while the inner layer is made of rammed earth to present a unique sense of tranquility, and the experience inside is like being in a canyon or cave...... With the completion and imminent completion of these venues, Dubai is one step closer to becoming a city of the future. (Synthesized from previous reports, part of the content from "Youth Architecture")
David Chipperfield: Shanghai Rock Bund Source
-- After 17 years of renovation work
So, is there an architectural project that is both a reminder of the past and a face for the future? Of course, it is the restoration of the Rockbundyuan project in Shanghai, a project by this year's Pritzker Prize winner and renowned architect David Chipperfield. This is also the highlight of this year's construction field.
Aerial view of Tiger Hill Road, Rockbund. Photo by Tian Fangfang
Located at the confluence of the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek, the Waitanyuan Centennial Architecture District is home to a number of buildings built between 1896 and 1932, which are an eclectic mix of European and Asian architectural styles, reflecting the typical Art Deco style of Shanghai at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In recent years, these buildings have undergone several rounds of renovation and remodeling. At the beginning of the 21st century, David Chipperfield Architects was commissioned to renovate, renovate and renovate 11 historic buildings on the Bund and the Zhong'an Meifeng Building, as well as renovate the new entrance of the art museum and the museum square. From the outset, he proposed to avoid recreating a spectacle object, and his concept of restoration was dedicated to presenting these time-tested buildings with dignity and style.
圆明园路街景©ROCKBUND
Among them, the CIIC Building, completed in 1930, was designed by Tonghe & Co. and built by Xiesheng Construction Factory, which is a frame structure building that integrates neoclassical and eclectic styles. Its base is finished in finely machined beige granite, and the floor is finished in warm gray imitation granite stucco, and the overall shape is calm and dignified. Within the Art Deco building, the renovated flexible spaces allow for a range of different presentation concepts and a spatial connection to the volumes on the upper floors through a new atrium.
Rockbund Art Museum (formerly the Asian Cultural Association Building) and CIIC Building ©, Tian Fangfang
Simon Menges, foyer © on the second floor of the Rockbund Art Museum
Once the first public museum in China, the Asian Cultural Association Building is now home to the Rockbund Art Museum. The building was completed in 1932 and designed by British architect George Wilson, a senior partner at Gonghe & Co. It is a brick and concrete structure building, which integrates elements of Chinese and Western cultures, with an elegant and exquisite Art Deco style. David Chipperfield adopted a construction model that integrates the exterior walls of the remaining historic buildings with the new buildings, and uses technical means to detach the exterior walls of the historic buildings with preservation value from the original structure and then combine them with the new buildings to form part of the outer parapets. This process is also known as "structural reformation". The original Tonghe & Co. retains the three-storey fair-water brick wall with floral decorations along the street, and builds a 60-meter-high high-rise building with a two-story basement adjacent to the enclosed space.
Zhong'an Meifeng Building © Tian Fangfang
The original three-storey building of Meifeng & Co. was designed by Tonghe & Co. and completed in 1896. The original building was divided into English styles with eclecticism. A closer look at the details of the building is exquisite, and the three-story roof cornice has three baroque mountain flower decorations. Chipperfield adopted the method of merging the exterior walls of the remaining historic buildings with the new building, and adding eleven floors upwards in the form of terracotta bricks, which is now the Chung On Meifeng Building. The new red-brick tower forms a powerful landmark at the edge of the neighborhood, blending the historic urban fabric with the new high-rise city beyond.
After that, a series of alleys connect the inner plaza formed between the historic buildings on the east side and the newly built residential buildings on the west side. As a final addition to the Bund Source project, it aims to transform these traditional inward-looking surplus spaces into an extension of the overall public and urban interface, while providing flexible spaces for different public events and functions.
RAMA Bund Architecture Festival Space Intervention Installation by DCA@ Locke Bund Source Museum Lane Photo: Tian Fangfang
In September, the entire Rockbund was completed, marking the end of a 17-year effort. At the RAMA Bund Architecture Festival, Chipperfield said on the spot, "It could be alleys and back alleys, street corners dotted with itinerant vendors, a familiar porch, or a bench for friends to talk to." They provide the basis for interoperability between the public and private spheres. Shanghai's traditional communities hold precious memories of these spaces. In the non-Western context of the city, public squares are not so common, so these critical spaces are all the more important. This is because they provide a place for people to mingle and share time and space. (Synthesized from previous reports, part of the content comes from "Jianri Zhuwen")
Herzog de Meuron: Power Plant Art Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Transforming from an abandoned power plant into an art center
In 2023, there have been many cases of renovation of old buildings. At the beginning of the year, Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn, New York, officially opened its doors. The project, which was completed by another Pritzker Prize winner, Herzog de Meuron, took seven years.
The renovated Power Plant Art Center in Brooklyn, New York, USA
Powerhouse Arts is a not-for-profit manufacturing space that was established to create a platform for art production and create jobs in the art field. The redevelopment project is located in Gowanus and Red Hook, Brooklyn, and covers an area of about 15,793 square meters. The project features architects transforming an abandoned and polluted century-old power station into a vibrant arts center to meet the needs of artists, manufacturers, and other skilled workers.
Old photo of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station
Originally built in 1904 as the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station, the Power Plant Arts Center is an important support system for Brooklyn's growing transportation network. After the 1950s, the power station was withdrawn from the historical stage, and only half of the original structure (known as the boiler room) was left intact, while the other part was demolished, which also left the turbine hall isolated. Over time, in the late twentieth century, the remaining structures became popular destinations for local graffiti artists, earning it the nickname "The Bat Cave".
Power Plant Arts Center
In 2010, the Gowanus Canal was designated a Superfund site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, emphasizing the need for its restoration. Therefore, the design of this renovation project focused on the refurbishment and restoration of the boiler room. Herzog de Meuron worked with PBDW Architects to develop a preservation, stabilization, and strategic restoration plan, and the turbine hall was seamlessly integrated into this new fabrication facility while maintaining its integrity and slicing its history. The concrete façade of the boiler room has been carefully designed to complement the masonry shell of the turbine hall and provide a robust and functional envelope.
Inside the Power Plant Arts Center
Inside the Power Plant Arts Center
Both buildings are now equipped with new windows. By preserving, restoring, and rebuilding key elements of the original power station, particularly the masonry façade, the project not only strengthens the building's industrial character, but also strengthens its connection to the surrounding urban environment. The team at Power Plant Art Center shared, "We have the ability to manufacture ceramics and printed materials in the factory, while also providing project management and processing services for public art. (Synthesized from "Jianri Zhuwen")
Rotterdam Architecture OMA: Aviwa Studios, an art complex in Manchester, UK
-- Consolidating the status of cultural and artistic attractions
Also part of the industrial heritage site is the new mixed-use Aviva Studios in Manchester, England. The venue was formerly known as Factory International, named after the local record label. Manchester has been the focal point of British pop culture since the late seventies, and has also been home to many legendary bands such as Joy Division, the Stone Roses, Oasis and more.
Aviva Studio Exterior
Now, designed by Rotterdam architecture firm OMA, the venue is a huge, highly configurable space, including a nearly 70-foot-tall, 5,000-seat warehouse and a 1,500-seat auditorium. These two spaces are called "warehouses" and "halls" and can be coordinated with each other, with the stage of the latter going deep into the former or being separated. It can host conferences, awards dinners and fashion shows, as well as concerts and art installations, on a scale comparable to the Tate Modern Turbine Hall in London.
The metal panels inside the hall are mottled, while the exterior of the building is wrapped in gloomy concrete. The broadly industrialised look might be seen as a nod to Manchester's manufacturing history. The building is squeezed into an old railway viaduct in an interesting way. Bridges and arches in the surrounding environment overlap and overlap, echoing the new building's spanning composition.
The Aviva studio echoes the surrounding bridges and arches
The venue is the largest investment by the UK government in a single art project since the opening of the Tate Modern in 2000. Currently, the investment cost of the project is more than £210 million. It will also be the permanent venue of the Manchester International Festival. However, perhaps because the "thunder" before the renovation was too loud, or perhaps because of the uneven distribution of financial funds, the opening and future operation of the venue were also questioned.
The façade of the Averva Studio building is made of concrete and corrugated metal
Interior of Aviva Studios
Still, Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig believes the venue is expected to create and create jobs. It said the venue will add 1,500 jobs, directly and indirectly, over the next decade, generating £1.1 billion in revenue for the local economy.
Regardless of the reviews, a new mixed-use arts venue also aims to cement Manchester's status as a cultural and artistic destination. (Synthesized from previous reports, originally compiled from The Guardian and The New York Times)
China Construction Southwest Hospital: Sanxingdui Museum New Hall
——Reshape the park and show the ancient Shu civilization that has passed through thousands of years
The Sanxingdui site is located 40 kilometers north of Chengdu, on the bank of the Duck River in the west of Guanghan City. Its civilization is 4,800 years old, and tens of thousands of exquisite cultural relics have been unearthed by archaeology, which occupies an important position in the world's bronze culture and is known as the "source of Yangtze River civilization". In November 2019, the exploration and excavation of the Sanxingdui site was restarted, and many national treasure-level cultural relics were unearthed in the six newly discovered artifact pits, which shocked the world again. Sanxingdui archaeology has entered a new period.
Sanxingdui Museum New Hall
The archaeological work was accompanied by the expansion of the exhibition venue. The original Sanxingdui Museum Park was completed and opened in 1997, with an area of about 530 acres, and the completed No. 1 and No. 2 exhibition halls, with a total scale of only 11,000 square meters, can no longer accommodate the display of new cultural relics and the increasing number of visitors. To this end, the new main hall and visitor center have a total area of 54,400 square meters, and the main hall will undertake all cultural relics exhibition and visitor guide functions. In the future, the existing halls 1 and 2 will be transformed into digital halls and research and education centers.
Sanxingdui Museum New Hall
The architectural design of the new Sanxingdui Museum is based on the core concept of "stacking up three stars, the eye of ancient Shu", and the three undulating piles integrate the functions of visitor service, display and collection management, and the large glass curtain wall implying the "eye of ancient Shu" cleverly combines the building and the environment. The atrium's giant spiral ramp connects the floors, implying the exploration of the past and the exploration of the future.
The exterior materials of the new building are unique and unique, and "chrysanthemum yellow" granite, which symbolizes the color of the land, is used. The thickness of the stone slab covered on the surface of the pile body reaches 8 cm, and the surface of the slab adopts manual hand-chiseling technology, which has a rough and heavy texture. Ultra-clear glass is installed at the "eye" position, and a bronze sunshade is installed on the outside, which is processed by a special oxidation process from brass plates, simulating the green and mottled texture of unearthed cultural relics, suggesting the identity of Sanxingdui bronze civilization.
The façade of the new Sanxingdui Museum
Inside the new museum, the atrium has a huge radius of indoor single-support spiral ramp, with the same huge circular copper hollow chandelier, as an auxiliary content of the exhibition, to increase the extension width for the interpretation of the magnificent ancient Shu civilization, and also as the interior landmark of the new museum, monopolizing the longitude and latitude. In addition, the new museum also has a temporary exhibition area, a multimedia exhibition area, a rest area, a cultural and creative sales area and other functional areas to meet the diverse needs of visitors.
The interior of the new Sanxingdui Museum
The exhibition flow of Sanxingdui Museum is different from that of comprehensive museums, which is a continuous sequence arranged according to the logic of archaeological narrative. This requires the large space exhibition halls to be connected from end to end to form a movie-like narrative. In addition to displaying the cultural relics unearthed from the No. 1 and No. 2 sacrificial pits, it also displays the cultural relics unearthed from a new round of archaeological excavations, with a total of more than 1,500 pieces (sets) of various cultural relics such as pottery, bronze, jade, gold, ivory (including ivory carvings), the number of which is more than 3 times that of the original cultural relics, and nearly 600 cultural relics are exhibited for the first time. (Synthesized from previous reports)
Taiyuan Northern Qi Mural Museum
——The country's first special museum of ruins tomb mural art
At the end of the year, after more than 3 years of preparation and construction, the Taiyuan Northern Qi Mural Museum was officially opened to the public. Taiyuan Northern Qi Mural Museum is located in Wangjiafeng Village, Yingze District, Taiyuan City, which is a museum that relies on the protection and display of the original site of Xu Xianxiu's tomb, one of the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in 2002", combined with the protection, research, utilization and management of Northern Qi murals and other cultural relics unearthed in Shanxi. Importantly, the museum is the country's first site-type tomb mural art museum.
Exterior view of the Northern Qi Mural Museum
The museum covers a total area of 20,000 square meters, with a designed construction area of 5,355 square meters, including an exhibition hall of 3,830 square meters and a mural conservation research center of 1,525 square meters. Unlike other museums, this venue is based on the preservation of the original site of the tomb of Xu Xianxiu, the minister of the Northern Qi Dynasty.
Xu Xianxiu tomb has a history of more than 1,400 years, is a large tomb in the Northern Qi Dynasty of China to preserve the mural is relatively complete, unearthed in October 2002, preserved more than 300 square meters of murals in the Northern Qi Dynasty, the area is large, the level is high, the preservation is intact, it is rare at home and abroad.
Mural display in the first exhibition hall
The exhibition hall of the museum is divided into three exhibition spaces, with the display of murals of the Northern Qi Dynasty as the core, interpreting the characteristics of the times, and interpreting the important position of cultural exchanges and ethnic integration from the Northern Dynasties to the Sui, Tang, and Jinyang. Among them, the first exhibition hall is called "Beidu Huacai", which takes the unearthed murals of the Northern Qi Dynasty tombs as the display object, highlighting the important position of Jinyang in the Northern Dynasties, and reproducing the social style and the spiritual outlook of the ancients at that time.
The second exhibition hall is called "a thousand years at a glance", which is the most important exhibition hall part of the Taiyuan Northern Qi Mural Museum, which is divided into three units in content, which are displayed from the three perspectives of archaeological discovery, in-situ display and scientific protection, detailing the ins and outs of the mural tomb of Xu Xianxiu in the Northern Qi Dynasty. The mural painting of Xu Xianxiu's tomb in the exhibition hall is divided into three parts: the tomb road, the passage of the hole, and the courtyard are the ceremonial guards, the two walls of the tomb door and the corridor are the honor guards, and the tomb chamber is the tomb owner's banquet and travel.
Map of the tomb of Xu Xianxiu in the Northern Qi Dynasty
The third exhibition hall is called "Simple Biaomei", which exhibits three parts: the murals of the Lou Rong Tomb in Taiyuan, the murals of the Jiuyuangang Tomb in Xinzhou, and the murals of the Shuiquanliang Tomb in Shuozhou, which provide a systematic understanding for today's people to understand the painting art of the late Northern Dynasties.
The Taiyuan Beiqi Mural Museum continued to carry out the original site protection of Xu Xianxiu's tomb, and achieved very good results, effectively controlling various diseases of the tomb, solving the stability of the tomb and tomb road murals, and providing reference for the protection of the original site of mural tombs at home and abroad. (Synthesized from previous reports)
Architecture Studio Cobe: Danish Opera Park
- A green island by the harbor
In recent years, low-carbon, green and sustainable are undoubtedly the key words in the construction industry, and for this reason, building projects related to nature have also become the focus of attention.
丹麦歌剧院公园 © Francisco Tirado
In 2019, following a design competition, Danish architecture studio Cobe was awarded the opportunity to design a new park on a former industrial island in Copenhagen's inner harbor, Denmark. The island is adjacent to the Royal Danish Opera House, which has been a small green lawn since it was inaugurated nearly 20 years ago. In 2023, it was completed and became the "Opera Park", a waterfront park that adds greenery to Copenhagen's densely built inner harbor.
The park is the size of three football fields and consists of six gardens from around the world: the North American Forest, the Danish Oak Forest, the Nordic Forest, the Oriental Garden, the English Garden, and a subtropical garden with a greenhouse and atrium in the center. Winding paths and organically shaped flower beds bring the park's elements together.
歌剧院公园 © Francisco Tirado
Designed to be a year-round public attraction, the park is home to 628 trees, 80,000 perennial herbs and shrubs, and 40,000 bulbs from around the world. A total of 223 unique exotic and native species provide visitors with a vibrant, ever-changing scene, as well as an abundance of food and habitat for birds and insects.
In addition to the garden, the park has a central greenhouse with a café and access to the parking lot below the park's grounds. The conservatory is designed as an organically shaped glass structure with a suspended roof and is designed to surprise and delight visitors as they navigate the lush landscape. The greenhouses and cafes will ensure that the park is a vibrant tourist attraction all year round. The terraces inside the greenhouse extend all the way to the parking lot level and can accommodate 300 cars, while its subtropical biome is also declining, intertwining the park vertically with the basement.
歌剧院公园 © Francisco Tirado
Through a covered walkway over a landscaped bridge, the park is connected to the adjoining Royal Danish Opera House. The curved glass and floating roofs of the walkways echo the landscape design along the winding path. The connecting passage of one of the bridges is designed as a natural landscape across the port canal, completely integrating the landscape and architecture. (Synthesized from "Jianri Zhuwen")
Takanari Yamashita: "Children's Forest Nursery School" at the foot of Mt. Fuji
- Float in the forest and make memories of the forest for children
Another project connected to nature is the "Children's Forest". The project is a nursery for children aged 0 to 5 years old located on a forested hill near Mount Fuji in Japan. Architect Takanari Yamashita created the nursery as a sunny place that floats gently in the woods. It is inspired by the sunlight shining through the sparse branches of trees, scattering overlapping patches of light on the ground.
Children's Forest Nursery
In this nursery, rooms and other programs for each age group (such as respite care or teachers' lounges) are separate cube units located on different ground floors with different angles. Each unit has its own landscape, surrounded by a variety of natural features. There is a wide grass area in front of the terrace where children can run directly and easily. There is also the 8-metre-high symbolic tree under which children can sit and climb the hill with a small tunnel, the rooms that require a peaceful atmosphere have forests and woods, and the courtyard next to the hall allows you to see the sky changing colors in the trees at any time......
The façade of the Children's Forest Nursery
The other side of the room is connected inward by a ramp and an intermediate space/courtyard, creating an indoor landscape where children can play, crawl or climb in more comfortable and safe conditions, even in inclement weather. A function room for up to 150 people is centrally located and surrounded by room units that allow everyone to play or do their daily games or activities together.
Although the lobby is largely covered by a roof, the gaps between the roof and the volumes of different heights, as well as the openings in the eaves, allow natural light and greenery to enter the interior space. The lobby opens into an open courtyard with a wooden platform, making it a safe playground, especially for the little ones who are not ready to run on the larger grounds. On the other side, active children can enjoy climbing boulders, which are connected to the higher backyard and surrounded by forests.
Interior of the Children's Forest Nursery
"We have retained its topographical features, which are important natural factors, with its undulating slopes and the 3-4 meters hill to the west of the site, because we believe that this is the natural environment that children will be able to experience when they receive the education they are looking forward to here." We hope that this children's garden will provide a warm and healthy environment for children to grow up in and leave some good memories from the forest. (Comprehensive self-built day building news)
OPEN Architects: Suzhou Shanfeng Academy
——A multi-functional cultural and sports center inspired by the garden
Located in Xiangcheng District, Suzhou, Shanfeng Academy is designed by OPEN Architects and is the core building of Shanfeng Bilingual School. This is a project inspired by traditional landscape paintings, and it is also a project that pays tribute to the gardens of Suzhou in spirit, while evoking traditional memories, confronting the practical problems of contemporary city and education, trying to efficiently accommodate a variety of activities with rich space in a limited space, and bringing the change of seasons and natural changes into the daily life of the space.
The Peak Academy in a high-density urban environment Photo by Jonathan Leijonhufvud
The Peak Academy provides an important public space for nearly 2,000 students, including a theater, exhibitions, library, gymnasium, dance and fitness studios, swimming pools, cafes and other very complex functions. Considering the high density of various functional spaces in the cultural and sports center and the huge number of users, the architect decided to decompose a core building in the usual sense into five different volumes, and spread some distances, resulting in four gardens: "Spring", "Summer", "Autumn" and "Winter".
The five buildings are both unified as a whole and have their own unique personalities. Among them, the largest is the theater, the gymnasium is a floating box, the natatorium is located semi-underground, the gymnasium, dance studios and other small spaces are distributed on several floors above the natatorium, and the library is composed of a vertical "library building" and a horizontal courtyard-style reading space.
Aerial view of Peak College Photography- Presence Architecture
The façade of the building is poured from small wooden formwork of white concrete, evoking the memory of the white walls of the Suzhou garden. And the wood grain on the surface of the concrete brings a warm texture. Considering Suzhou's rainy climate, the architects designed special overflow and water dispersion in several places. Special stones, Jiangnan plants, traditional paving, and different water features are all incorporated into the design. On the plaza facing the building, different paved grounds, water features and shady greenery implicitly continue the garden to the urban interface.
Reading space on the first floor of the library Photo by Zhu Yunzi
The roof of the "Herb Garden" photograph - the presence of architecture
On the roof of the verandah, there is a fifth garden, the Herb Garden, which is planted with herbaceous plants and spice crops, which is a leisure and social space and conveniently connects the main architectural functions above and below it. Between the empty garden and the solid building is a verandah with a flat roof, like a blank space in a landscape painting, a space to breathe, giving people a moment of relaxation and emptiness. Walking through it, the building forms a changing frame and layers of close-up, medium-, and far-range scenes, allowing people to experience a constant shift between reality and space, interior and exterior, dynamic and static, traditional and contemporary. (Synthesized from previous reports)
(Part of the content of this article is synthesized from previous reports of "Jianri Zhuwen", "The Bund", "The Guardian", "New York Times", "Youth Architecture" and The Paper)