RIVERSIDE PARK PAVILION BY VECTOR ARCHITECTS

“Located in the riverside park along a busy street in the old town area of Kunshan, this project includes a refreshment station, public toilets, and a leisure pavilion. These program spaces are assembled as a compound that is an intermixing zone for diverse activities within a small area in the park.

The existing trees work as a natural filter between the buildings and the adjacent street. Buildings and trees are spread out on the site and intertwined on the artificial landscape of the sunken garden.

The building volume is fragmentized and distributed under or around the trees based on the functions. The sunken garden becomes the new ground for the buildings. It limits the disturbance of the buildings to the low crowns of the existing trees, and decreases the tension between the building and its surrounding context.

People are guided into the sunken garden through three pathways between buildings and trees, and various types of open spaces, which constitute distinctive spatial sequences. The pavilion compound forms a closely fitting with diverse environments around.

The exterior walls of the public toilets and the refreshment station are clad with dark grey terrazzo. Its color and texture camouflage the buildings as two rocks half-buried in the ground.

Sitting on top of the refreshment station, the leisure pavilion has distinctive gestures on its two long sides, a permeable façade composed by vertical aluminum trellis facing the street and more transparent surface facing the river.

The rhythm of the vertical louvers makes the building in harmony with the trees. This visual combination not only casts pleasant shadow into the interior space, but also constitutes a translucent interface between the leisure pavilion and the street.

The steel structure maximizes the usages in the limited space and the light construction makes the building like a lantern sitting on top of the rock at night. When the sliding glass doors are all opened up, the leisure pavilion becomes a stage, which can accommodate various events in the park.” Description from the architects.

Location:Kunshan, China

Architects:Vector Architects

Partner In Charge: Chie-Ho Hsu, Gong Dong

Project Architect: Feng Xu

Project Advisor: Nan Wang

Project Team: Brian Lap Heng Fung, Xing Liang, Diego Caro Serrano, Edith Yeung, Zhimin Zhou

Area:175 sqm

Year:2013

Photographs:Shengliang Su

BAYUQUAN VANKE BRAND CENTER BY VECTOR ARCHITECTS

In the summer of 2012, we were invited by Vanke Group to design their exhibition centre in a seashore park at Bayuquan, Yingkou, China.

We tried to explore 2 kinds of relationship within the design - the relationship between space and the scenery, and the relationship between public and private.

Between space and scenery

The site is flat and vast, with the endless ocean view at one side. The “height” and “distance”, consequently, becomes the key factors through the concept generating process.

We set up an observatory platform on the roof of the building, where people could enjoy the maximum view of the landscape. The climbing progress from the grade level to the top platform is the indivisible prelude of the entire spatial experience.

Starting with a gentle ramp, visitors will go through a preserved gingko grove, before walking into the inner space caring out the architectural volume. After going up along a defined stair space, eventually they arrives the top level, turning around, facing the bondless ocean in the distance.

The platform is enclosed at 2 sides and the top, but fully open to the sea. Such a directional gesture assists to relate the limited place to the endless landscape, and mentally diffuse the boundary between the near and far, small and vast.

The surface of the space, made of the matt finished aluminium panel, bounces the light and colour from the environment to inside, through different season, climate, and the time of the day, subtly changing the ambience of the space.

The perforated wall facing east, acting as a time machine, casting the ever-shifting pattern of light and shadow to the platform, following the course of the sun.

Between public and private

By establishing such a platform, we hope to build up a positive relationship between the public visitors and the program of the client’s brand presence. The platform is completely open to the public, and the climbing ramp and stair system is independent from the interior circulation, which could avoid the interfering by each other.

Following their own path, both public and private users have the chance to meet up at the platform. People could relax here, feeling the ocean breeze, taking photos with their friends and family, and being served by the brewery restaurant at the 3 rd floor. Occasionally, concerts and musicals take place at the platform at night time, making such a place as a focal point of the public activities at the seashore park. 

 

Location:Yingkou, China
Architect:Vector Architects

Partner In Charge:Gong Dong
Project Team:Chen Liang, Qifeng Wang, Zhimin Zhou, Jian Wang, Mary Jane Kwan, Pingdong Sun, Feng Xu, Qing Chang
Structural and Mep Engineer:Dalian Urban Construction Design & Research Institute
Project Advisor:Nan Wang, Yue Han, Xiangdong Kong
Area:2,000 sqm
Year: 2013
Photography:ShuHe & Shengliang Su