This is an interior remodeling project. The original building was designed by Liang Jingyu, an architect of renown in 1990s, which served as an adjunctive space to a well-known art institution back then. The floor plan of the architecture presents an asymmetric U-form, of which the south side of the space is long and narrow, the west side wider, and the south facade with French windows of a strong sense of sequence. The west side of the space is relatively upright and foursquare, to which, after repeated rentals and renovations, a second floor and an attached space had been added. The north side is shorter, a two-storeyed part serving as logistics space.
The West Bund Museum is a new art gallery on the Shanghai Corniche, an 8.5 kilometre frontage on the northern bank of the Huangpu River. The promenade connects the Xuhui district to the historic Bund and forms a key part of the West Bund Masterplan, which envisages a new cultural district over nine square kilometres of former industrial land.
The museum occupies a triangular plot at the northernmost tip of a new public park, at the point where Longteng Avenue and the river converge. A raised public esplanade above the flood plain surrounds the building, offering views to the river. The edge of the esplanade on the east side is delineated by a continuous series of steps with landing stages leading to the riverbank. The site offered the opportunity to create a completely freestanding structure and its location allowed for improved access to both the river and the park.
Xi’an, the ancient capital of 13 dynasties, features the integration between a civilization of thousands of years and modern lifestyles, which gives the city unique charm.
The project E Pang Bookstore is located in Fengdong New Town, Xixian New Area, Xi’an, which is named for the Epang Palace nearby. Fengdong, where the project is situated, used to be the administrative center of Qin Dynasty, and nowadays has become a core area in the development blueprint of Xi’an.
Since there had been no large-scale reading space within 5 km away from the site, the project was conceived to fill the blank. The designers tried to figure out what kind of bookstore was needed based on local cultural context and geographic importance of the site.
Encountering future
Situated within Fengdong Free Trade Zone, E Pang Bookstore is the first large cultural complex in Xixian New Area, with a total area of 3,500 sqm. More than just a bookstore, it’s endowed with the attribute of a library, which also functions as a carrier of public life and urban culture.
Over the past thirty years, the population of Shenzhen has exploded from 300,000 to 1,400,000 people. It is unique among Chinese cities in that sixty-five percent of these residents are in their twenties and thirties, giving it a powerful new energy. The MIXC(Shenzhen Bay) commercial complex is located in a development area facing Shenzhen Bay where hotels, residences, sports facilities, and office buildings are clustered. We designed the 2,475 m2 bookstore on the third floor of this complex, called Yan.
The store’s Chinese name is pronounced “quianyan.” “Yan” is the word for the decorative outer edges of eves on traditional Chinese buildings, which symbolize the East’s extension into the broader world. The owners of the bookstore chose this name because it represents their forward-looking vision of being at the leading edge of culture. The second part of the name, “Think Borderless, Discover Yourself” expresses the shop’s identity as a place for endless self-discovery.
In July 2018, under the name of “the most beautiful bookstore in Chengdu”, the results of the “Xinglong Lake Bookstore Architectural Creative Design Competition”, sponsored by Chengdu Tianfu New Area Investment Group Co., Ltd. and China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute C o., Ltd .., and co sponsored by Chengdu Yi Zhu Yi Shi Cultur e Communication Co., Ltd. were announced: with total 486 people signed up and 249 conceptual plans received, MUDA Architects stood out from the 20 finalists and won the first prize in the design competition.
Hybrid and holistic, Social House by Xintiandi is a multifunctional space comprising retail, F&B, and lifestyle elements. Positioned across two floors of the recently renovated Xintiandi Plaza in Shanghai’s central business district, the venue has been designed for openness and exchange, bringing the vitality of outside, in. Elegant and feminine in aesthetic, it takes visitors on a layered journey that caters to mind, body, and soul. From the group behind Xintiandi, a pioneering urban renewal project and car-free commercial district in central Shanghai, Social House immerses visitors into a narrative crafted through circulation and flow, punctuated by focal points of activity. Together, these elements create a unique, constantly evolving destination that is fast becoming a cultural and lifestyle hotspot in China’s most dynamic metropolis.
In the digital era, architecture has become a global communication tool with wide scope and reach. No longer resting solely in the hands of the experts, nowadays architecture draws on its tangibility and concreteness to become an, expression of general culture at all levels and a collective argument for debates. As a temple devoted to 360-degree diffusion of architectural culture, PRESS BOX, the installation by SET Architects, encompasses a selection of international publications curated by mint LIST.
A children’s library for a dong minority rural village.
The Gaobu Book House serves the 2,500 people of Gaobu Village, one of the Dong minority villages in China. Like many other Chinese villages, Gaobu Village is challenged by “village-hollowing” in which the working-age population migrate. The Dong Minority community of China possess a unique cultural heritage rooted in land and customs. After surviving hundreds of years, modernization today poses a serious threat to Dong’s identity.
Rather than accepting urban migration as a given, this project aims to restore dignity and induce development by proposing a small children’s library project. Playing and curiosity come natural to children, hence our design generates an “active” architecture that allows children to engage and absorb knowledge through playing.
The Royal Library is one of the most significant architectural landmarks on the Copenhagen waterfront. Clad in black granite, the extension to the Royal Library is known as the ‘Black Diamond’ – with its clean-cut lines and glittering polished surfaces, the library is one of Copenhagen’s architectural gems.
Situated in the historic heart of Copenhagen, the extension marks a radical shift from traditional library structure and accommodates a range of cultural facilities. Open and essentially democratic, the building includes a café, bookshop, exhibition room, restaurant, scientific and literary institutions, as well as a roof terrace and a 600-seat hall for concerts, theatrical performances and conferences. The extension has doubled the library’s overall size – the open shelves can accommodate more than 200,000 books compared to the previous capacity of 45,000. There are six reading rooms with a total of 486 seats.
5Lmeet is located in a narrow Hutong alleyway within Second Ring Road in Beijing. The project itself was an abandoned soy sauce factory surrounded by the old gray-tiled buildings. It is not far from the historical Duan Qirui Prime Minister’s Office, and next door is the old residents living for decades. 5Lmeet is an innovative space in an old community. Client and design firm worked together to study the social and spatial requirements of activities space to provide design input conditions. Operating team and designers in-depth communication ensured that the project content and future interaction with the perfect combination of space.
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