Device of Perception Centro Cultural by Yuting Zhang

Device of Perception Centro Cultural by Yuting Zhang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 A' Design Award de Bronze in Design de Arquitetura, Edifícios e Estruturas Competition Category.

BronzeArquitetura· 2022

Device of Perception Centro Cultural

by Yuting Zhang

Client: Yuting Zhang

A' Design Award de Bronze Winner in Arquitetura Category

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Verified Award Winner

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The Design

About Device of Perception Centro Cultural

Device of Perception é um centro cultural na Cidade do México, situado entre um bairro histórico de baixa altura e um empreendimento comercial de grande altura. O centro ocupa cerca de 4.500 metros quadrados e abriga um auditório para conferências, um pequeno teatro, área expositiva, escritórios, depósito e um café. Uma praça de acesso rebaixada separa o edifício da avenida movimentada e funciona como uma extensão do palco interior. Cada pavimento da torre baixa é girado um quarto de volta, formando uma galeria pública em espiral com vistas emolduradas da cidade. Foram empregados concreto armado e aço patinável (corten).

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Bronze

Device of Perception Centro Cultural conquistou o A' Design Award de Bronze, um reconhecimento altamente prestigiado atribuído a designs notáveis que se distinguem pela criatividade, engenho e perspicácia. Os vencedores do Bronze são artefactos amplamente habilidosos e surpreendentemente criativos que comprovam a vasta experiência, imaginação e capacidade de iniciativa dos seus designers. Espera-se que Device of Perception Centro Cultural seja um objeto muito considerado, admirado e estimado, notavelmente profissional e inovador. Este design vencedor do A' Design Award de Bronze incorpora as melhores práticas em arte, ciência, design e tecnologia e é excelente pela sua atenção ao detalhe. Device of Perception Centro Cultural satisfaz esplendidamente necessidades, toca desejos, encanta sentimentos e desperta curiosidade.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: The site is in between the low rise colonial historic quarter and the high rise commercial development, as an intersection node full of complexity in Mexico City. The cultural center is not only an exhibition space for Mexico City but could also be regarded as the device of perception. The perception is twofold in this project. One is that exterior plaza as the extension of the interior stage, the other is that a spiral path with various scenery frames as the narrative to understand the city.
Dimensions & Packaging: Approximate total area 4500 square meters, with main conference/lecture hall, small theater hall, exhibition space, offices, storage, cafe.
Tags: cultural center, gallery, theater, exhibition
Production Technology: The cultural center is constructed using reinforced concrete. Informed by “stereotomic” architecture, the board-marked concrete walls of the center are treated as a found object. Corten is another material been introduced to the project. The use of the weathering steel creates an immediate visual link between past, present, and future.
Design Challenge: The selected site is adjacent to Zarco Plaza, public plaza alongside the Church of San Judeas Tadeo, near the convent of San Hipolito, located on Reforma Avenue at Avenida Hidalgo, which is an intersection node full of complexity in Mexico City. The design challenges are how to use space to fully interprete the surrounding urban context and the rich cultural and history narratices.
Research: Explore how experimental miniature stage was used as a space in which objects, 2-‐dimensional drawings and 3-‐dimensional constructions of different scales could coexist in a seemingly unproblematic way, to see how the same spatial base was used to accommodate different scenarios and situations, just by moving props around, adding surfaces and changing backdrops.
Inspiration: Aldo Rossi's Project the Small Scientific Theatre from 1978 is taken as a starting point to reflect upon the relation between architecture and image, and between object/ prop and space/ stage. The theatrino models made for the project then have borrowed this primary idea from Aldo Rossi to explore how does the Zarco Plaza could be regarded as the extension of the stage of the auditorium. The definition of performers has been extended in the exploration.
Project Duration: 2017 in Mexico City
Operation Flow: The sunken entrance plaza of the cultural center creates a tranquil start of the narrative, separating the cultural center from the heavy traffic La Reforma Avenue. The lower ground floor surrounding the sunken plaza houses the art storage facilities and a cafe, maximizing publicly accessible space continues from the plaza into the lobby of the building.
Each floor of the short tower is twisted a quarter turn, which creates a large spiral public gallery as the extension of the interior exhibition space. The story of the city has been told through the switch-over between the interior gallery and different compositions of historical layers from the breaking points/openings in the cube of the spiral path. Two auditoriums have been embedded in this spiral discourse, with lectures, talks, debates, conferences, and film screenings conducted in front of the urban backdrop.
Team Members: Yuting Zhang
Image Credits: Yuting Zhang