Way of Seeing / Waterfrom Design – 【Architectural CAD Drawings】

Interiors Designers: Waterfrom Design
Location: Luohu District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Lead Architects: Nic Lee
Design Team: Elvin Ke, Marco Tseng, Zona Chen
Area: 1500.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Yuchen Chao

Gaze Turns Distance into a Lingering Aftertaste
Unlike other emerging areas in Shenzhen with new buildings springing up like mushrooms, Luohu District is a relatively old area. Despite modern and innovative buildings rise from the ground, its history and culture pervade daily life. In the context of rapid changes and the new and the old mixing together in the city, the design of aqueous phase centers on the spirit of an exhibition of a museum.

It aims to create a space in the bustle and hustle where passers-by can slow down and calm down in spite of themselves and temporarily forget all kinds of troubles. In this space, one can obtain pure sensory experience and savor a touch of culture that resonates with himself/herself.

Blank Space Accumulates the Strength of Silence
As a field carrying art and literature, its spatial arrangement shall enable visitors to intuitively feel an atmosphere different from the madding crowd. The museum only has black and white colors. It introduces many glass curtains welcoming much sunlight. Matt acrylic structures, white walls with patterns of fir, and rough stone surface are utilized to generate an effect that it seems even the sunlight slows down.

Linger on in an Unfettered and Slow Manner
The first dramatic impact comes from “Lingering” at the entrance. From the sparkling pond in the front, you can see the reflection of the sky as transparent and light as the glass curtains on the outer walls. Here, we’ve created a corner balancing “real” and “heavy” at the entrance.

The curved and winding walls made of copper and iron are like a 3D sculpture, breaking the binary relationship between the inside and the outside traditionally separated by a door. Viewers need to observe and try to find the entrance. Only by walking through the sculpture can they enter another space. This process of searching and discovering the piece of open land is like roaming. It connects viewers, art, and space.

Twisting, turning, stringing, and knotting based on the stair
The connection is another important spatial experience in an art carrier. In this space structure for vertical movement, the stair not only serves to connect upper and lower floors. We want to give it a meaning. It becomes a huge sculpture that can be appreciated, walked, and passed through, like works of Tony Cragg.

In order to highlight the floating and transcurrent relationship, we cut openings with different widths and heights on the two main walls inside the building. Among wide white space, black blocks are stacked vertically as if they are not confined by gravity. They twist and extend to form axes. They connect to be openings for passing through or peeping. They create paths without boundaries, just like a preface luring you too long for more.

We use stairs to break the relation between section and elevation and reconnect space, making walking dramatic. The whole space becomes a stage. One can walk fast and slowly in the space to gain varied experience. In the black and white background, they can walk and stop, see and be seen. Even the action of observation turns artistic. The secular world outside the building dims.