Project Location：Shenzhen            Building Area：1000 sqm    

Design Period：2014—2015             Status: Built                  Category: Cultural & Educational

Maximizing landscaping resources 

In the north of the site stand the silos which, with the highly sculptural volume and impressive height, boast the most distinctive feature of DaChan Flour Mill, while to the south of the site there unfolds the fantastic sea view of the busy Taiziwan Bay. So how to invite both views into the renovation and make them part of the attributes of site becomes the starting point in design of the lecture hall. As response, visual corridors and some height points are provided in the north and south of the site to avoid the sense of enclosure caused by the box-like industrial building. The north and south facades are defined as two gigantic frame finders to bring in the most attractive views, meanwhile, create an open and transparent performance space against the urban backdrop. With addition to and renovation of the lecture hall, 1F is displaced with the Maker Maker exhibition, 2F the bathrooms and meeting rooms under the steps, 3F with the leisure bar. Besides, the spaces of the grinder building are borrowed to serve as VIP lounge. With interplay and organic combination of the functionality and space, a mini-conference complex is created.

Contract between the old and the new

The renovation here still follows the principle to “adapt to and give full play to the existing conditions and maximize the reuse of objects”. The old buildings are also typical factory buildings without much distinctive features. As typical column grid cannot accommodate the use demands of the large span space for the lecture hall, half of the column grid on 2F is removed to create a platform on which the lecture hall is gently placed. This enhances the contrast between the new and old volumes, and between the two eras, restoring to the maximum the rethinking of design on the fast-growing industrial development. 

Separated from the old building, the new structure, a door-type steel frame, appears like a glass box gently placed on the half-grid platform on 2F of the old building. The contrast between the new and the old is also embodied in materiality and texture. The new building volume, which is light and transparent, contrast with the solid and stable temperament of the industrial building. 

Due to the constraint like the construction schedule and coordination, the structural dimensions of the lecture hall do not achieve the desired lightness. Yet this can still be regarded as a bold experiment.