Articles by 韩爽 - HAN Shuang

Pinghe Bibliotheater is the core of OPEN’s latest project—School as Village/Shanghai Qingpu Pinghe International School. A library, a theater, and a black box interlock together like a Chinese puzzle to form this characteristic building that some call ‘the blue whale’ while others see it as an ocean liner. The unique form of the building and the free-flowing spaces not only cultivate the students’ interests in reading and performing, but also encourage their imagination to roam freely in the ocean of knowledge.

The Suzhou Bay Cultural Center is part of a series of emblematic projects initiated by the city’s Wujiang Lakefront Masterplan. Located on the shores of Lake Tai, the deserted plain was discovered by Christian de Portzamparc in 2013, while rethinking the future city. It was then built so quickly, that the architect never ceased to be amazed after every visit. Alive, it is like a real Manhattan of towers organized through a grid of streets and avenues, bordering a central pedestrian axis that heads towards the lake. It was clear that the meeting of this pedestrian axis and the great lake would generate an exceptional place, and it was on this site, on each side, that the cultural center was to be implanted in the architecture competition.

Located on Zhuhai’s coastal road, the new museum benefits from the proximity of the water as well as the mountains and a park in the background, whilst also being close to the opera house. Both buildings, the museum/exhibition complex and the opera house, represent a new statement for the entrance to Zhuhai city for travelers coming from the north.

Yunyang is located in the hinterland of the Three Gorges Dam area in Chongqing, and the county sits on the southern slope of Longji Ridge north to the Yangtzi River. A visitor center was planned along the riverfront greenbelt to serve the citizens for leisure. The client wanted to fill up the small bay down the Yunyang Port and reclaim it as the site for the project. In contrast to the grand Yangtzi River, the tranquil bay has a unique landscape character. Its north, east and downstream shores are natural cliffs falling straight into the water, while the greenbelt down the bay was to be put on top of the cliff. The west and upstream shores are slopes leading into the water, currently being transformed into engineered river bank and revetment, where the greenbelt upstream will be placed in the future. According to the building scheme, the embankment construction would stretch almost straight from the upstream all the way down to the east-side cliff of the bay. The connection between the bay and the river would thus be cut off, and the bay would turn into stagnant water, if not to be filled up. As the river bank extends to the cliff, the greenbelt on the bank is still more than ten meters lower than that on top of the cliff, which also makes it difficult to bridge the two.

Shantou Village in Dadongba Town has a long history for its rice wine production in the County. Every autumn, after the glutinous rice matures, the villagers start to brew wine. The medicinal liquor is taken from the local Polygonum hydropiper, squeezed into juice, and added with rice flour. After more than seven processes such as fermentation and sun drying, this white wine is made and added during brewing. 

As a Chinese architectural educator and practicing architect, Zhu Pei has founded Studio Zhu-Pei in 2005. Since then, he has been focusing on cultural architecture in both theoretical and practical ways. Based on the concept of ‘natural architecture’, he has designed a series of experimental and artistic buildings.