Studio Ruan Xing creates arched timber hall at Shanghai university
Architecture practice Studio Ruan Xing has created an arched, central hall as part of the renovation of a building on the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's School of Design campus in Shanghai. The studio, which is led by Ruan Xing, who is also the dean of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, renovated a trio of buildings The post Studio Ruan Xing creates arched timber hall at Shanghai university appeared first on Dezeen.
Architecture practice Studio Ruan Xing has created an arched, central hall as part of the renovation of a building on the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's School of Design campus in Shanghai.
The studio, which is led by Ruan Xing, who is also the dean of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, renovated a trio of buildings that were arranged around an atrium with a glass canopy.
Informed by the suburban houses that surround the campus in Shanghai's Minhang District, Ruan told Dezeen that he aimed to redesign the building as to evoke a suburban home, enclosing the previously semi-open buildings.
The studio removed the glass canopy, as well as the reinforced concrete beams and columns that supported it, and replaced it with a timber structure to form an internal hall.
"The glass ceiling – originally supported by a robust beam and column structure – made summer here feel like a steaming greenhouse and winter as unpleasant as a biting cold wind," Ruan told Dezeen.
"After removing the 'redundancies', what remained was a symmetrical and 'clean' structural frame that encloses the open glass atrium to create an internal hall."
The wooden arches and soaring ceilings were designed to pay homage to the wooden arches from China's Song dynasty.
Studio Ruan Xing added skylights to let in natural light and create dynamic shadow plays as the light travels through the arches.
Upon entering the building, a gallery that showcases students' and alumni's work leads visitors to the main hall, which is separated from the gallery by a screen wall.
According to Ruan, this was intended to create a "wow effect" when people see the main hall for the first time. The hall also contains a cafe and a library and ends with a courtyard garden that hosts design workshops.
Ruan kept the symmetrical composition of the original buildings and used it to determine the shapes of the rooms positioned along passageways across the upper three floors.
On the first floor, the original load-bearing walls and space-frame roof structure were retained, as they suited the scale and space requirements of a lecture theatre.
"All the rooms together form a harmonious ensemble within the building, and their shapes are not primarily determined by their intended functions," explained Ruan.
"If one room is suitable as a professor's office and another as a seminar room, then the function of each room is defined accordingly."
The exterior of the building was clad in ceramic panels, transitioning from coarse to more refined as they rise. This design was intended to imitate the natural ageing process of the material.
"I hope the 'ageing' of the design building will be a gradual and graceful process," said Ruan.
Ruan was the associate dean at the faculty of the Built Environment at University of New South Wales in Sydney before he joined Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He was the curator of the China Pavilion at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2023.
Elsewhere in China, UK studio Zaha Hadid Architects designed Beijing's largest convention centre with copper-coloured curves, while Danish studio BIG has completed Jinji Lake Pavilion in Suzhou featuring a glass-tiled undulating roof.
The photography is by Su Shengliang.
Project credits:
Design team: Zhao Dongmin, Wang Kai, Wang Hao, Lu Shaobo, Wu Xiongyin, Xu Hang, Cao Zitian, Xie Dong, Chu Liren
Construction drawing: Studio Ruan Xing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Design Research Institute, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) 8th Bureau of Decoration and Engineering Co
Timber structure design development: Studio Ruan Xing, Timber Structure Department at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Design Research Institute
Inner courtyard landscape design: Studio Ruan Xing, Shanghai Yijing Architectural Landscape Co
Interior design: Studio Ruan Xing, Studio Wu Jian, Aomomo Architectural Studio
Signage design: Li Pengcheng, Shen Siyin, Tan Xin
Lighting design: Studio Ruan Xing, Shanghai Jinxi Architectural Technology Consulting Co
The post Studio Ruan Xing creates arched timber hall at Shanghai university appeared first on Dezeen.
What's Your Reaction?
