Gold Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2023
Guangzhou Julong Bay Exhibition Center
by Ann Yu
- A' Design Award 2023 Gold Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: Guangzhou Pearl River Enterprises Group
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 30,048
- Verification code 2F38EBD571 · Verify this award
About Guangzhou Julong Bay Exhibition Center
Guangzhou Julong Bay is a city planning exhibition center created from four brick warehouses built in the 1950s on the west bank of the Pearl River. The original structures and materials were retained as far as possible, and customized imitation clay bricks were used in the new parts. A large span steel frame with a sloping glass curtain wall covers the parallel halls and joins them into one flexible interior. The triangular roof follows the angle of the old sloping ceilings. The steel frame extends to the ground on both sides, forming a corridor open to the riverside landscape.
Emerging from contemporary dialogues between transparency and materiality that have defined exhibition architecture since the late twentieth century, this work by Ann Yu demonstrates exceptional command of spatial composition and atmospheric presence captured at the liminal moment of twilight. The building's dramatic triangular section, achieved through an exposed structural steel framework visible through the continuous glass envelope, suggests affinities with high-tech architectural traditions while the warm brick plinth references vernacular building practices, creating a sophisticated material dialogue that bridges industrial precision with craft sensibility. The perforated brick screen serves multiple functions simultaneously, providing visual screening, thermal mass, and a luminous decorative element that transforms the base into a lantern-like presence during evening hours. One observes particular accomplishment in the orchestration of artificial and natural light, where interior illumination animates the structural skeleton while complementing rather than competing with the fading daylight. The compositional strategy frames the architecture within a carefully considered landscape of mature and young trees that soften the geometric rigor while establishing a procession of spatial experiences from public realm to interior sanctuary. The inclusion of human figures activates the threshold condition and provides crucial scalar reference, inviting viewers to imagine their own bodily presence within the space. This work appears to meditate upon questions of revelation and enclosure, the relationship between structural truth and spatial mystery, and architecture's capacity to create moments of civic gathering and cultural contemplation. What experiences of discovery and wonder might unfold as one moves from the shadowed landscape toward the luminous interior volume?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Located on the west bank of the Pearl River, the original site with four separated brick warehouses that built in the 1950s was a significant granary of Guangzhou. As the first stage of the city government’s renewal master plan in the area, the key objectives of the adaptive reuse project was to remain its industrial past as a reminder of the history, while build a city-planning exhibition hall and civic center that act as a beacon to investors, developers and citizens, to encourage a massive participation in the rebirth of the old district. The core design idea was to ensure its new functional usability, while presenting the old site in an attractive way to the young generation. The project has been rated a high score in the SITES Sustainable System, as the first to achieve that in China.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Area：5000㎡
- Tags
- Revitalization of old buildings；Reborn；Exhibition Center；Handmade Bricks
- Production Technology
- large-span steel frame and full-slope glass curtain wall system；handmade bricks
- Design Challenge
- For practicing designers, there is not much room for practice due to the overwhelming historical meaning of the architectural conservation field, which is too complicated to regulate. Instead, there is a lot of possibilities in the field of conservation revitalization of old buildings on how to renovate. The numerous protective revitalization approach is either an allusion to or an extension of the different repair theories in the right proportion.
The Chongkouwarehouse is a group of old warehouses on the river bank, which retains its identity as an old building and avoids being classified as a historical and cultural preservation building and thus has a new fate. It is also possible to completely avoid the 'something if nothing, a reality if nothing, a great wisdom if foolishness'. This is indeed the luck of itsdestiny. And it is even more fortunate that we, as designers, have been given this honoredopportunity torenovatethis group of nearly century-old buildings and bestowthem a contemporary significance.
Taketheexampleof ChongKouWarehouse. Transformed from a 19th century grain warehouse into a commercial urban exhibition center, the original building group has a very simple layout.Three groups of 13m x 45m square pods of uniform length and width in proportion to their structure are lined up along the short side at 10m intervals.The physical spaces of the building have a good and balanced ratio of area to the open void spaces.Thewarehouse, on the other hand, have an interior usable area of 1,755 square meters, which in fact cannot take on the full function of an urban exhibition center.Thereforeexpansion became necessary. On the basis of the structural characteristics of the original building, a vertical extension would be extremely costly and irreversibly damage the sloping roof of the original building.Thus flat expansion became first choice. The open void space of the original site is incorporated into the new space and organized into a non-thematic visiting/reception/resting space, which incorporated intothe main exhibition and meeting content that the original three-storey interior can take on, a good functional and logical organization of space can be achieved within the limited scope of the renovation.The four silos, which are placed horizontally and independently of the main building due to budget reasons. Because of its proximity to the original three warehouses, we have designeda connecting corridor into a reception space that is visually strongly connected to the main building but functionally independent. - Project Duration
- The project started in February 2021 in Guangzhou China and finished in February 2022 ,and exhibited in Guangzhou China in May 2022.
- Operation Flow
- The old warehouses was built for plainly purpose with simple brick structure. The original structure and materials of the warehouses were reserved as far as possible, while customized imitated clay bricks are adopted in the new-built part.
In order to create a connected inner space for a new massive building, a canopy of glass and steel structure was designed to build on the parallel barns, which enabled the interior to be rearranged to flexibly usage. Its triangle appearance inherit the inclined angle of the sloping ceilings of the old warehouses, and at the same time give a steady yet energetic characteristic. Modern steel structure and glass, together with traditional bricks, worked harmoniously.
The steel structure of the canopy extended on both sides to the ground, which formed a corridor that brought in the riverside landscape, and a coexist with the original plants on the site. It also created an interact between the building and the natural environment, which helped to build a friendly and cozy ambience for the interior. - Research
- The original site of this project are four separated brick granary that built in the 1950s. As the first stage of the renewal plan in the area, the key objectives of the adaptive reuse project was to remain its industrial past as a reminder of the history, while build a city-planning exhibition hall and civic center. To encourage a massive participation in the rebirth of the old district ,the original structure and materials of the warehouses were reserved as far as possible, while customized imitated clay bricks are adopted in the new-built part. The core design idea was to ensure its new functional usability, while presenting the old site in an attractive way to the young generation.
- Inspiration
- The Chongkou warehouse is a group of old warehouses on the river bank, which retains its identity as an old building and avoids being classified as a historical and cultural preservation building and thus has a new fate. It is also possible to completely avoid the 'something if nothing, a reality if nothing, a great wisdom if foolishness'. This is indeed the luck of itsdestiny. And it is even more fortunate that we, as designers, have been given this honoredopportunity torenovatethis group of nearly century-old buildings and bestowthem a contemporary significance.
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