Actin

A maze-like space that is hard to fathom, yet draws people in

Education + Architecture

An academic project, done independently, in a joint studio of two universities: a cultural exhibition building for Haiyan Village on the shore of Dianchi Lake, Kunming. The course asked for a reading of traditional cultural contexts, a study of human behaviour in different spaces, the design of circulation through exhibition spaces, and the design of structure and of light and shadow.

My own aim was an interior of complex light and shadow, laid out like a maze, that stirs a strong urge to explore, while the façade stays simple and orderly.

The design aims to create a highly engaging cultural exhibition building for Haiyan Village and for Kunming. It stands on the cliff beside the Haiyan pier, facing Dianchi and backed by hills. It makes up for the fast-food way in which the pier's sights are visited, and builds a cultural route: old village, pier, exhibition building, Shilong Temple.

The plan takes the Big Dipper as its image: the seven stars are joined into a line through skylights, so that a plan which looks scattered holds a strict order. The indoor and outdoor spaces of the northern cultural exchange centre are regular, and the further south, the more deconstructivist the space becomes. In the exhibition spaces of the middle and the south, points, lines and planes interlace and collide, so that one feels guided and fooled by the space at once. The aim is a maze-like experience that keeps people exploring, lets them anticipate the path through the space as they finish viewing, and gives new and returning visitors a fresh impression of it.

The exhibition is a path of thought from tradition to the future. It starts at the Haiyan Village culture hall and enters the main hall, where there are two paths to choose from: one from the future to tradition, the other from tradition to the future. It aims to draw people's attention to the culture of the Dianchi basin, and to make them think about it.