Xu Wei Art Museum and Qingteng Square are very important components of our Shaoxing ancient city practice project, as well as a key measure in the "Reseeing the Qingteng" urban renewal plan. As the main venue of "Xu Wei's 500th Birthday and Opening Ceremony of Xu Wei's Hometown", it will be officially put into use in May 2021.

In fact, the conceptual plan of the art museum has been formed during the first field visit. It absorbed the essence of green vine study building and gardening, and put forward some thoughts on the iconic public cultural buildings in the current renewal of the ancient city: we are trying to build A new way of expressing space, focusing on the small scale of traditional residences, connecting the surrounding architectural environment, meeting the needs of contemporary art exhibitions for large spaces, and discussing the topic of "modernity". History background".

Large onitudinal five entry and opening

Xu Wei Art Museum is located in the former Shaoxing Machine Tool Factory, north of Xu Wei’s former residence Qingteng Study, in the middle of Houguan Alley. First of all, we got inspiration from the large space combination of the old machine tool factory and adopted the construction logic of "five in vertical, three folds in horizontal and unequal herringbone slope shape". The two five-entry floors on the east and west sides serve as the main exhibition space; the middle floor spans two floors and opens the vertical five-entry layout; the first floor is a hall that runs through the north and the south, while the shared hall and small temporary lecture hall are located on the second floor. The shared space on the upper and lower floors also serves as a transit hub between the exhibition halls on both sides.

We set up internal courtyards on different planes on the east and west sides to reasonably separate the volume of the exhibition hall and enhance the indoor permeability. At the same time, the green garden design of the mountain and stone waterfall also provides visitors with more possibilities for exhibition and leisure.

Black slices and top -to- ground  consistency

In addition to space processing methods, the contemporary expression of Shaoxing’s traditional style is also reflected in the careful selection of materials: the black metal texture extends from the roof along the herringbone sloping house to the end of the second floor on the east and west sides, and the north-south direction is above the second floor. The white granite solid wall is selected; the first floor is repeatedly paved with four concave sides and the unit texture of the horizontal herringbone slope. The curtain wall is partially treated according to the function and the unified modulus, and the gray granite is unified with the curtain wall material. The building as a whole presents the typical black, white, and gray tones of Shaoxing, with partial white space, and the three-fold herringbone slope contours on the front.

The Green Vine Square on the south side of the site connects the art gallery on the north side and the Green Vine Study on the south side, paving the way for the atmosphere of the front court, and at the same time serving as a visitor center, carrying the flow of people. The square continues the art gallery’s construction logic. Two chevron-shaped slopes are "raised" on the east and west sides: the west side is slightly raised to surround the square, and the east side is slightly higher. With local subsidence, the volume of the visitor center is cleverly hidden under the herringbone slope.

The whole square is paved with dark stones, and the west side uses the slope to create a scene of flowing water. At the same time, an original "Sculpture of Xu Wei" stands on the southwest side of the art gallery and the northeast side of the slope, which has become the visual focus of the square and a distant view of the art gallery. The stepped arrangement at the starting point of the east slope serves as an auditorium, providing a suitable place for distribution and gathering.

At the same time, with the help of the space creation technique of "viewpoint transformation", a "continuous pavement" is formed in the constantly moving and changing viewpoint transfer, so as to construct a complete and unified spatial experience and impression foil for the vision. And the psychological integration of architecture and landscape—that is, the so-called spirit of mountains and rivers originating from Jiangnan.

Community Public Art Space

When urban renewal and protection of ancient cities become more and more topics of gossip after dinner, we hope to express our thinking through design: how contemporary public art spaces can intervene in the cultural context of the ancient city, integrate and influence the lives of citizens, and then complete the "future" The preliminary transformation and prospects of "traditional communities" have improved the quality of regional living spaces and given new vitality.

Mr. Xu Wei, who was obsessed with calligraphy, became a master intentionally or unintentionally. What we have done is nothing more than: using brush and ink to create a vast landscape, it is crazy, acceptable, accessible to ordinary people, imagined as a place, but in fact it is a building.

* Project information

Project Name: Xuwei Art Museum and Qingteng Square

Project Type: Construction

Architectural office/company/institution/unit: ACRC, Architectural Design and Research Institute of Zhejiang University

Company/company/organization/unit website: www.uadacrc.com 

Contact email: uadacrc@163.com  

Company location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang

Project address: No. 33, Houguan Alley, Yuecheng District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province

Completion status: Completed

Design period: June 2020 to May 2021

Construction time: July 2020 to May 2021

Land area (square meters): 9854.17

Building area (square meters): 8504.14