Excerpt:Supo Gallery is a cultural space designed by the architectural firm Archermit. The building is concentrated as a whole because the later use function is an open public building, which is different from the common closed courtyard-type sales & Exhibition center. It integrates the surrounding park and street space in an embracing attitude. The wide part is private, combining various functional space requirements in one place; the narrow part is a corridor with open public space. While creating a sense of entering the home in the early stage, it also considers the “sense of friendly distance” between the building and the surrounding park, which is also a sense of ceremony shaping the cultural exhibition space.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] The project is located in Qingyuan Community, Supo Block, Chengdu, adjacent to Supo Park, in the green belt of Qingyuan Park, surrounded by many schools. The names “Supo” in Chengdu come from an ancient bridge — Supo Bridge.
The Supo Bridge, built in the Ming Dynasty, is a bluestone arch bridge with four holes, three piers, and a long corridor. As an academician, the writer Su Shi of the Song Dynasty had given lectures at the bank of Yangliu in the south of Chengdu. Out of respect for Su Dongpo (Su shi), the bridge he traveled over was renamed Su Po Bridge. Today, although the Supo Bridge no longer exists, the reverence of Mr. Dongpo from citizens of Chengdu has continued to this day. Chengdu has a lot of places named after Supo, such as Supo Street Office, Supo Road, Supo Park, Supo Overpass, and so on. For example, in the “Wenjiang County Records” poem, the ancient people lamented Supo Bridge: “Where the visitors, where the pavilion, the bridge is empty and the water still runs. “
The architectural image of the project originates from the disappeared Supo Bridge. We take the “corridor” of Supo Bridge as the architectural image and try to redraw the shape of Supo Bridge with modern architectural language, bringing the bridge’s memory back.
The project is located in a densely populated area west of Chengdu, functioning as a sales exhibition center in the early stage. Most buildings around within a mile are residential buildings developed in recent years. Besides, the project forms a set of three kindergartens, two primary schools, and a secondary school within 500 meters. Along with the cultural history of “Su Po lecture,” it’s a community with an intense artistic atmosphere. However, the surrounding buildings lack public space for cultural extension outside the school. In the later stage, our architecture will be opened to the public as a small public art exhibition area in Qingyuan Community to increase the community’s cultural atmosphere. This forms a medium-sized garden that can be static and energetic by supporting the surrounding parks.
Following the design principle of economy and environmental protection, the transformation of functions before and after the conversion project is not allowed to change space structure and high construction price. So, our team carefully thought about the spatial organization at the beginning of the design stage. “Corridor Bridge” Concept satisfying the function requirements of art and sales exhibitions simultaneously comes out. It not only is reasonable planning for current and future circulations, but also combines with the image architectural theory we insist on. The architectural image of “Corridor Bridge” makes this building less of an “architecture.” It is more like the Jade Belt crossing over the site, connecting the green spaces of the block interestingly.
The building is concentrated as a whole because the later use function is an open public building, which is different from the common closed courtyard-type sales & Exhibition center. It integrates the surrounding park and street space in an embracing attitude. The wide part is private, combining various functional space requirements in one place; the narrow part is a corridor with open public space. While creating a sense of entering the home in the early stage, it also considers the “sense of friendly distance” between the building and the surrounding park, which is also a sense of ceremony shaping the cultural exhibition space.
The whole building is like several layers of corridors stacked together, and the image of “Corridor Bridge” arises spontaneously. The image of the “covered bridge” is also continued in the facade and interior space of the building adjacent to the park on the east side. The building has a total of two floors. In addition to the interlocking stairs and elevators in the interior, two other staircases are placed outside on the east side, forming an aerial corridor bridge. The four large transparent and open glazing also echo the “four holes and three piers” of the Supo Bridge in history to a certain extent. Distributed multiple staircases solve not only the evacuation issue of each space but also provide necessary access and different access methods for each function division and operation management of the building.
The interior “Corridor Bridge” forms a certain height difference on the second floor according to the height changes of different spaces on the first floor. We use the suspended ramp to solve the height difference and provide some rhythmic pleasure for the building without affecting its accessibility.
The 50-meter semi-outdoor corridor at the entrance and the white louvers at the main interface facing roads on the west side strengthen the integrity of the building while weakening the sense of mass. The soft sunlight through the louvers and the sparkling light reflected from the water interweave into an elegant picture scroll. Light and shadow are exhibits, but the flowing spirit crosses through the space. A 150-meter-long exhibition corridor is formed through the combination of indoor and outdoor, which can carry a variety of small art exhibition activities and provide a place for the surrounding residents to relax.
Full floor-to-ceiling glazing on the east side of the space adjacent to the green park space introduce nature into the interior. A certain artistic, commercial space can be formed by combining a book bar, cafe, and tearoom, and “self-hematopoietic” can supply the daily operation of art exhibition space to solve the commercial problems of most public buildings at present.
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