Longmen Qicun Art Design Center / Studio Dali Architects
Longmen Qicun Art Design Center / Studio Dali Architects
Text description provided by the architects. Our study of Xiaoshi Village has been going on for five years, and the focus has been on the enhancement of community values and the integration with culture and industry. The Art Design Center came about as a way to build a regional planning and art gallery, attracting more and more cultural and artistic projects to the local community.
We think that this building could be a turning point for Xiaoshi village to go out, which would make the community development gradually turn from inward-oriented type into external-oriented one with more contact and communication with the outside world. In the planning of the project, we also considered other uses of the space in the future, and its connection with community activities. Therefore, we paid great attention to its flexibility.
The site is located at the entrance of the village, at the junction of two mountains and a river, with mountains and the main road on the north and a river on the south, decreasing gradually from west to east.There is a path with many pedestrians that connects two communities. We want to keep this path with memories of the rural community life, so that the building can be placed in the triangle on the left side of the path, which is basically in line with the plan, saving land to the greatest extent. This path will also be left for pedestrians. It is hoped that this strategy can allow more people to pass by this building and notice it, bringing more opportunities for future development.
What’s different about about a rural art center? The difference is that in the city, the exhibition is usually in a closed environment, while in the countryside, nature itself is an exhibit, and we wanted to integrate the exhibition into the countryside through the design.
The middle part of the building is designed as a circular atrium, which could include the surrounding natural environment, like mountains, sky, breeze and rain, and the historical memories of Xiaoshi Village, such as the railway bridge site. Standing in the atrium, you can feel the vitality of nature and the history of Xiaoshi village, which was prosperous because of coal mining.
A circular line is designed around the central courtyard, and at the same time, it is possible that people can walk back and forth inside the building, so that people and people, people and nature, people and exhibits can meet again and again. With transparent glass walls in different directions, the interior space is alternately filled with exhibitions and rural landscapes, reminding people that they are in the forest and inspiring their desire for nature.
