Press Release
Bronze A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Goes to The Light of the North Musical Art Center by Meng Zhao
The international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Meng Zhao for architecture, building and structure design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ The Light of the North Musical Art Center by Meng Zhao has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The recognition forms part of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
More About The Light of the North Musical Art Center
The Light of the North is a musical art center in Saynatsalo, Finland. The building has a gross floor area of 2000 square meters and includes a concert hall. The design follows the language of the nearby town hall and adds modern functions for the local community. The entrance facade combines perforated brick walls with a glass curtain wall, and the bricks are set in varied patterns. Curved wooden panels join walls and ceilings, spread natural light softly and improve the acoustics of the concert hall. The center serves children, elderly people and young residents.
About Meng Zhao
Meng Zhao is an architectural designer and founder of Chuxin Tuoyuan, a Beijing-based design studio working across cultural, exhibition and spatial design. His work focuses on the relationship between architecture, preservation and public use, exploring how spatial systems can integrate environmental control, narrative and circulation. His projects have received international recognition, including the iF Design Award, BLT Built Design Awards and Architecture MasterPrize, and have been published on platforms such as ArchDaily, Designboom and Domus. Through his practice, he investigates how architecture can operate as a long-term cultural infrastructure within contemporary contexts.
Award Record
Meng Zhao is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards were granted in the 2025 - 2026 edition of the A' Design Award & Competition.
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/173260
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/173260
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!173260
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/368939
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/perforated-brick-fac
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
- The Light of the North Musical Art Center
- Function
- Musical Art Center
- Category
- Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture
- Colors
- Lavender, Dark Salmon, White Smoke, Dark Slate Gray and Light Gray
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Meng Zhao
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #173260
Credits
- Image Credits
- 5, Meng Zhao, 2024.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The musical art center is a symbol of cultural revitalization. By paying homage to and integrating the design language of town hall-an iconic symbol of Finnish spirit-with modern functional needs, it respects tradition while injecting new social elements, promoting cultural revival and community development. The project draws inspiration from Finnish nature, using wood and red bricks to promote sustainability and create a warm, immersive space.
- Inspiration
- This project responds to rural population decline and aging in a groundbreaking way. Located in Saynatsalo, it serves children, elderly people, and underprivileged young people, revitalizing the town's culture and social life. From Finnish nature, the concert hall is supplemented with the old town hall, creating an outstanding cultural space that attracts music lovers. The project creates a quality music environment with opportunities for exchange, stimulating the regional economy.
- Research
- Investigate and analyze the resident population size, age distribution, and proportional composition of Saynatsalo and the nearby major city, Jyvaskyla. Survey the functional zoning and spatial distribution of different areas. The findings reveal that 69.8% of the urban population aged 15-64 severely lacks open, public, nature-adjacent, and music-related activity spaces. Saynatsalo is ideally positioned to meet the rapidly growing demand for music spaces from the surrounding population.
- Challenge
- The biggest challenge of the project is to integrate with the surrounding environment. For example, how to communicate and connect with the existing town hall servicing as a whole. The design needs to deeply consider the geometry, the appearance, the continuity of streamlines, the functional requirements of the township, and the application of local materials.
- Realization and Technology
- The entrance facade combines perforated brick walls with glass curtain wall, while the bricks are arranged in varied rhythmic patterns to add visual depth and texture. Using of curved wooden panels to seamlessly blend the walls and ceiling, it contributes to a soft diffusion of natural light throughout the space that interacts with nature and maximizes environmental benefits. All-wood interior of the concert hall features a wooden panel forming a streamlined enclosure to optimize acoustics.
- Operation and Interaction
- The musical art center's space and circulation design optimizes functionality and aesthetics through a unification of fluid flow, judicious zoning, and balance to pay respect to Finnish cultural characteristics and modern requirements.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project designed in 2024, Saynatsalo, Finland.
- Specifications
- Gross floor area: 2000 square meters, Project type: Musical Center & Concert Hall
- Keywords
- art building, musical center, concert hall, musical art center, culture, landmark
