Excerpt: Sustainable Intelligent Exhibition Hall for BMW by Archihope is an interior design project influenced by the planning concept of modern cities. In order to create a full urban ecosystem and achieve sustainable development, the designers included the form spreading from the core into the space design as well as various road views and the public landscape to define the concrete appearance of the future city.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Nowadays, many people are almost immersed in the virtual world of “online games.” So the emergence of City Walk is remotivating people’s enthusiasm for embracing real life, and more and more people choose to experience the joy of in-depth travel while walking slowly and learning more about the cultural background and essence of a city. The pleasure brought by the deep tour is not only material comfort but also soul satisfaction.
Archihope integrated a micro-tourism way of doing City Walk into the sustainable intelligent exhibition hall for BMW in Changsha, which is located in Yuelu district, Changsha. The designers from Archihope drew lessons from the planning concept of modern cities, integrated the form radiating from the centre into the space design, and with the goal of forming a complete urban ecosystem and achieving sustainable development, they integrated all kinds of road views and the public landscape to delineate the concrete appearance of the future city.
As David Chipperfield says, “Good design is sustainable because the function of a building may change, but the design itself will survive.”
During a city walk in the night, the light effects with a strong sense of science and technology of the future will light up along with the inductive lighting device. The technological lights, varying between red and blue, construct the experience of being in virtual space. The leading-edge space context combined with intelligent technology reflects the pioneering spirit emphasised by the BMW brand.
Walking through the courtyard on the elegant stepping stones on the water surface, one can reach the central area of the exhibition hall in a sinking style. The designers create a combination of pocket park and book bar and use landscape design techniques to simulate interest and charm in freehand landscape paintings. The circular, sunken design maximises the field of vision. One can have a panoramic view of all the cars and enjoy the city scenery when sitting around in the book bar.
Cliff Moughtin mentioned in his Green Dimensions that “principles of sustainable urban design would place priority on the adaptation and re-use of existing buildings, infrastructure, and roads, together with the re-use of recycled building materials and components.” During the construction of this case, recycled wood veneers, recycled paper tubes, eco-friendly particle boards, and other recycled materials are used as decorative materials to build into a unique shape while focusing on the reuse of facilities and materials so as to implant a growing and changeable space in the modern building and landscape.
Patrick Geddes wrote about the future form of cities in his book Cities in Evolution: “Cities must stop spreading like ink and oil stains. Once developed, the city will bloom like flowers, interspersed with green leaves in the golden light.” When the centralised layout becomes a surface feature in the evolution of a city, the same design form will also be introduced into the spatial layout.
Therefore, in the sunny City Walk design, the colourful streetscapes providing for the future city will be displayed one by one along the way: The bus stops, flower shops, pocket parks, cafés, and other diversified space scenes are displayed around exhibitions for different car series in accordance with the themes and design styles. The strong scene atmosphere sticks to the styles of different car series and builds a complete urban architectural system in the space of 15,000 square metres.
Rocks imperceptibly reflect rustic charm with leisure; flowers and trees wittingly bring vitality into the house. In modern urban construction, the concept of “building an urban ecological recycling system” is advocated, which also runs through the design idea in this case. Logs are heavily used in the overall space to emphasise the smooth combination with natural texture. The modelling chairs of a distinctive style in the guest resting area with layers that correspond to tree rings extend the dimension of natural imagery while highlighting modern design style. The large areas of green plants also allow the space to sprout the vitality and poetry of landscape gardens with the overlap of branches, leaves, and light.
In response to the moving line on the ground, the lines extend to form the hollowed-out ceiling and strengthen the guidance for customers. The design aims to extend the exhibition hall space from the centre to all dimensions. The semi-open ceiling in the hollowed-out design extending to the sky visually, the golden lines converging at the centre of the bar counter and forming a trunk, and the image of a “world tree” twining around and connecting in the space are shaped. With the extension of the branches, all regions are integrated, springing to life and forming a close symbiotic relationship.
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