Galleries often act as stagnant interior display spaces: their primary function is to host works in a relatively unobtrusive way that is artful without being ostentatious. But what about galleries that are designed to serve another purpose, as the freshly completed Roca’s Beijing Gallery in Dongzhimen by MAD Architects does?

Instead of tacking a few fixed pieces onto the walls, the gallery itself has an interior LED-laden wall that projects images both of gallery visitors and the pedestrians outside in a purposeful attempt to create an interface with the surrounding urban environment. Imagine combining the introspective mirror and looped video concepts of someone like Dan Graham with the aesthetic thirst for juxtaposition of a gallery curator: the rotating series of images, which was designed by art critic and curator Jérôme Sans, changes at varying intervals, and can be glimpsed by those passing by outside.

Sometimes the changes occur in seconds; in others, days go by before the imagery shifts. The idea is to showcase the city, as well as people's experiences of the city (and, in several cases, pictures of nature).

As Ma Yansong explains it, “I hope that the Roca Beijing Gallery can become a positive, vivid corner of the urban community, connecting people and city in the simplest way."