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gad's Exhibition Hall emerges from an ethereal atmospheric haze as a remarkable study in contemporary architectural photography, presenting a cantilevered glass pavilion that appears to float above…

Xi'an Qujiang Art Center Exhibition Hall by Xiaoxia Wang - gad is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Platinum A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Competition Category.


PlatinumArchitecture· 2022

Xi'an Qujiang Art Center Exhibition Hall

by Xiaoxia Wang - gad

Client: Gad

Platinum A' Design Award Winner in Architecture Category

429,650

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #136009

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The Design

About Xi'an Qujiang Art Center Exhibition Hall

Xi'an Qujiang Art Center is an exhibition hall located in Qujiang New District, Xi'an, China. The building appears to float above a green slope and forms a clear visual marker beside the urban road. Double-layer full glass curtain walls blur the boundary between the interior and the surrounding parks. A suspension structure carries the three exhibition levels, and the suspended columns are reduced to 200 mm in diameter, so the space is almost free of columns. A gentle trail through the urban green belt leads visitors into the site.

The Recognition

About the Platinum A' Design Award

Xi'an Qujiang Art Center Exhibition Hall is a Platinum A' Design Award winner, an extremely prestigious recognition granted to truly exceptional, elegant, and magnificent designs. Platinum winners are marvels of creation, testaments to the limits of intellectual creativity, and demonstrate the unmatched professionalism and genius of their designers. These designs are expected to be the most renowned works that define the aesthetics of an era, contribute to the well-being of society, and push the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Xi'an Qujiang Art Center Exhibition Hall exhibits a transcendent level of excellence and unequivocally makes the world a better place with its advantageous and worthwhile characteristics. Xi'an Qujiang Art Center Exhibition Hall is a Platinum A' Design Award-winning work that triggers desires, inspires, excites, delights, and sparks great joy.

Where to Get It

Contemporary Architecture and Master Planning

We design iconic architectural spaces that blur boundaries between nature and structure. Specializing in cultural venues, commercial complexes, and institutional buildings, our team delivers innovative solutions that transform sites into memorable experiences. From concept to completion, we create architecture that inspires.

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Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties
The project is located in Yanta District, Xi’an, with a mature surrounding traffic system including elevated roads, subways and highways, which makes it quite convenient and able to reach the main city within an hour. Being close to Qujiang Pool and Tang Paradise, the site is surrounded by multiple urban parks and boasts rich green land resources.
Dimensions & Packaging
The cellular stone breaks the area limit of natural stone with a size of 1.2m wide x 2.2m high. It also can be used on the dropping ceiling which ensures the integrity of the entry space and renders a unusual drop-off experience.
Cellular aluminum sheet’s lightness, high intensity and high flatness guarantee the flatness of the large aluminum curtain wall. Meanwhile the reflections of the surroundings further strengthens the sense of floating.
Tags
Floating Horizon, Suspension Structure
Production Technology
Cellular aluminum sheet's lightness, high intensity and high flatness guarantee the flatness of the large aluminum curtain wall. Meanwhile the reflections of the surroundings further strengthens the sense of floating.
Design Challenge
The exhibition hall space is divided into three layers. The whole structure is a suspension structure. Under the suspension structure, the stress mode of the column is changed from bearing pressure to bearing tension, and the performance of the steel is brought into play. The diameter of the suspension column is reduced to 200 mm to achieve the " almost no column" effect in the indoor space. Hence the freedom of the exhibition space can be fully released, and the sight line can be connected with the outside almost unobstructed, blurring the inner and outer boundaries.
Research
The process of arriving at the site is not a straightforward one, but a process of falling, turning, surprise and suddenly opening up, which seems to coincide with human's emotional experience. The whole building is anchored on the site. The site and the building are integrated with the bottom hidden in the green slope.
Inspiration
How to deal with the relationship between the architecture and the site becomes the starting point of the initial design. The designer further contemplates the space core by contemplating on the relationship between architecture and nature, the way of interaction and the boundless sense of experience. Double-layer full glass curtain walls allow the building to interact with the nature in the form of fuzzy boundary.
Project Duration
The project started in 2018 in Rongchuang Qujiangyin, Qujiang New District, Xi'an, China and finished in 2019.
Operation Flow
Facing the height difference between the site and the 10 meter green belt of the road, how shall people reach the site? The landscape design gives a poetic answer. The gentle slope of the urban green belt is built into a silk belt trail, leading the walk in. The walk experience becomes a way of dialogue with the site, and also a more close interaction between the site and the city.

The landscape design and space streamline of the drop-off area overlap with each other. The designer is not eager to let people arrive at the exhibition hall, but allows them to go straight through the landscape garden on the first floor. Walking through the landscape area and after taking the 88 second straight ladder, people will see the floating exhibition hall with four transparent walls at the end of the stairs. When looking back from the exhibition hall, the landscape on the roof of the podium and the botanical garden on the east side of the site form a continuous dialogue relationship. The landscape and architectural sequence constitute the designer's narrative of the space, which naturally triggers the emotion and experience at that moment.
Team Members
Project Director: Xiaoxia Wang
Project Creative: Xiaoxia Wang
Shouqing Wu
Other Team Members: Yuanyuan Fu
Zhehua Ni
Structure: Xiangming Qi
Qi Zhu
Xiaodong Shen
Water Supply and Drainage: Ting Hu
HVAC: Mingxing Ji
Electrical: Tao Jiang
Interior: CCD
Landscape: T.R.O.P
Structure technique: suspension structure
Building materials: glass curtain wall
honeycomb stone
anodized aluminum plate
Photographer: Shiromio Studio
CCD
Shouqing Wu
Image Credits
Image #1: Photographer Shiromio Studio, Main Image, 2019.11.09.
Image #2: Photographer Shiromio Studio, Optional Image, 2019.11.09.
Image #3: Photographer Shiromio Studio, Optional Image, 2019.11.09.
Image #4: Photographer Shiromio Studio, Optional Image, 2019.11.09.
Image #5: Photographer Shiromio Studio, Optional Image, 2019.11.09.

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