Press Release
Zhou Qi Studio Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for Natatorium of Southeast University Sports Centre in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
Zhou Qi Studio honored for architecture, building and structure design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 19, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ Natatorium of Southeast University Sports Centre by Zhou Qi Studio has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Silver A' Design Award Explained
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
About Natatorium of Southeast University Sports Centre
The Natatorium of Southeast University is an indoor swimming pool built for a university campus in Nanjing, China. The building provides a venue for swimming and training, with a standard pool of 20 by 50 meters, changing rooms on the ground floor, and a gym and classrooms above. Continuous cast-in-place concrete arches form the walls and the roof as one whole, repeated in seven curved bays. The concrete is left bare to show the structure and the material, and the outer skin is dry-hung with red terracotta tiles. Large glazed areas link the interior with the campus outside.
About Zhou Qi Studio
Zhou, Qi, Ph.D (IIT), IAA, ICOMOS, RIBA Registrated Architect Professor of Architecture at Southeast University Researched Area: History of Modern Architecture, Conservation and Preservation of Architecture As an architect, his representative work include People’s Daily Headquarter (in Beijing, got the gold winner of A'DESIGN AWARD in 2016, Milan), Southeast University Natatorium (got “best of best” in AMP Architecture Prize in 2023, published by Italian magazine IIC L’INDUSTIA ITALIANA DEL CEMENTO, author: Alberto Bologna), Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall of Zhongshan Mausoleum in Nanjing.
Award Record
With this recognition, Zhou Qi Studio is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award
The A' Architecture Design Award is an international architectural design competition recognizing good architectural designs by best architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to architectural design studios, building contractors, structural engineering firms and architecture and design consultants from all countries. Typical entries include skyscrapers, museums, residential buildings, commercial complexes, educational institutions and religious structures. The awarded architectural projects are published at https://designers.org/design-category/architecture
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/152509
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/152509
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!152509
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/346574
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Natatorium of Southeast University Sports Centre
- Function
- Sports Centre
- Category
- Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture
- Colors
- Light Blue, Dark Slate Gray, Rosy Brown, Gray and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Zhou Qi Studio
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #152509
Credits
- Team
- ZHOU Qi, YANG Jun, YANG Wenjun, HU Die, FU Xiuzhang and GUO Yangbo, LI Xiang, ZHANG Benlin, MA Zhihu, ZANG Chuanguo
- Image Credits
- Zhou Qi Studio, Exterior Arches, 2023.; Zhou Qi Studio, Exterior Elevation, 2023.; Zhou Qi Studio, Interior Elevation, 2023.; Zhou Qi Studio, Interior Space, 2023.; Zhou Qi Studio, Aerial Context, 2023. Video: Zhou Qi Studio, Natatorium of Southeast University, 2023.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The Natatorium of Southeast University is located near the east gate of the Jiulonghu Campus. It is the first indoor swimming pool in the history of Southeast University. The design uses continuous circular arches to break the body into pieces, to eliminate the sense of alienation of the volume. The arc of the building is like a flower, woven together in 7 repeating forms, which makes it look lively. The building does not have a so-called "top roof", its roof and wall as a whole.
- Inspiration
- The space of the natatorium is made up of multiple curved surfaces, forming a sense of rhythm. Fluid water, moving people and static building, gray concrete and blue water, sunlight refracted by louvers and shadows formed by geometry, all of which stimulate a strong sense of place. The arch structure of concrete is in line with the mechanical requirements, and the facade uses a large area of glazing, which forms an interaction between behaviors and sights of the people inside and outside.
- Research
- In the process of construction, the natatorium used cast-in-place concrete, which requires much manual prefabrication of formwork. The scaffolding covered the whole site, which was more than 10 meters high and covered an area of 120*40 meters. Casting curved arches in mid-air is an anti-trend, anti-industrial architectural behavior. Each concrete arch meets a point when it falls to the ground and the excess is "sheared" off to form a natural arch bottom, which cannot be accomplished through assembly.
- Challenge
- The main problems of the natatorium are span and humidity. Using concrete arches can well meet its structural requirements and concrete does not fear water. The concrete surface is free of paint and decorations, to present the most authentic state of the structure and materials. The skin of the building is dry-hung with red terracotta tiles, which are sustainable and can be replaced for 150 years. All the materials show their natural colors, so the structure is the building, and the building is the structure itself.
- Realization and Technology
- Construction Method: Cast-in-place concrete, Dry-hanging terra-cotta tiles; Performance Testing: Mechanical structure test, Material strength test, Daylighting simulation, Acoustic simulation; Design Software: AutoCAD, Rhinoceros, Sketchup, Photoshop, V-Ray, D5 Render.
- Operation and Interaction
- The main function of the Natatorium of Southeast University is to provide the campus with a fitness venue for swimming and training. The plane is rectangular, the swimming pool is a standard size of 20*50 meters, and the water circulation equipment and machinery are set underground. The internal space of the natatorium is organized in the manner of a regular gymnasium, with a changing room and swimming pool on the ground floor and a gym and classrooms on the second floor.
- Project Duration and Location
- Year of Design: 2018; Start of Construction: 2019.4; End of Construction: 2022.10; Location: Jiulonghu Campus, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
- Specifications
- Land Area: 6892 square meters; Gross Built Area: 5650 square meters; Building Height: 10.5 meters, Width: 39 meters, Length: 91 meters; Floors Above: 2 floors, Below: 1
- Keywords
- Swimming, Fitness, Recreation, Concrete, Arch, Tile, Structure, Tectonic
