Silver Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2022
Rice Wine Town Reception Room Cultural Exhibition
by Wei Zhang and Kesuo Wu - gad
- A' Design Award 2022 Silver Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- CLIENT: Gad
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 24,604
- Verification code A7BC3F060B · Verify this award
About Rice Wine Town Reception Room Cultural Exhibition
Rice Wine Town Reception Room is a three-storey building in Shaoxing, China, built on the site of a former rice wine workshop. The original red brick chimney is preserved. A cubic module of 4.8 by 4.8 by 4.8 metres orders the plan and the facade, so the interior can serve as a rice wine exhibition and experience hall, a bookstore and later as restaurants. A steel frame structure was chosen for speed and durability. The facade is clad with recycled bamboo shaped into L-shaped members in a factory. The stacked volumes form roof terraces facing the Dashu River.
Positioned within the evolving discourse of contemporary regionalist architecture, gad's Rice Wine Town Reception Room Cultural Exhibition represents a thoughtful meditation on the relationship between traditional craft traditions and modern spatial requirements. The structure's distinctive timber lattice envelope suggests an engagement with historical timber joinery vernacular, reinterpreting stacked and interlocking beam construction through contemporary engineering precision while maintaining legible connections to established building heritage. The architects appear to have conceived the facade as a permeable membrane, with its grid of openings and adjustable horizontal louvers creating a responsive environmental interface that mediates between interior program and exterior landscape. The placement of this cultural facility within its waterfront context demonstrates sensitivity to site-specific design, with the building's horizontal emphasis and warm material palette establishing visual dialogue with the calm water surface and distant mountain profiles. Particularly noteworthy is the chromatic strategy, wherein the predominant warm timber tones are punctuated by a concentrated sculptural element in vivid red on the rooftop level, creating hierarchical emphasis and suggesting ceremonial or symbolic significance. The technical achievement of creating a unified volumetric expression through additive timber elements invites consideration of both structural innovation and material sustainability. One might observe how the building simultaneously reads as solid mass and transparent framework depending on viewing angle and lighting conditions, creating phenomenological richness that rewards extended contemplation. This work invites viewers to consider how contemporary architecture might honor material traditions while addressing present-day programmatic and environmental demands, perhaps prompting reflection on the enduring dialogue between craft knowledge and technological capability.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The original site was a workshop for producing rice wine, now its red brick chimney is preserved. In the early stage of the project, it will be used as Shaoxing Yellow Rice Wine Exhibition and Experience Hall, including yellow rice wine cultural experience exhibition, bookstore, flower shop and other functions. Later, it will be converted into a waterfront commercial building containing three restaurants and a bookstore.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- This basic modular unit is completely mapped to the form and facade of the building, and the repeated modular units form a unique architectural temperament. Adding another frame to the outer wall of the building allows the interior solid space to retreat and form a deep and layered facade. The awning, which refers to the removable Windows of Jiangnan folk houses, further increases the depth and layers of the facade.
Due to the functional transformation in different periods and the avoidance of large-scale civil construction, the division of architectural space must be flexible. Drawing on the strong functional adaptability of traditional wooden frame architecture and Domino architecture system, the scheme decided to take 4.8mx4.8mx4.8m cubic square as the basic module of the building. This module can simultaneously adapt to the plane and floor height requirements of basic space such as exhibition, shop, restaurant, toilet, elevator room, etc. A smaller span can also achieve higher indoor net height, and meet the requirements of exhibition experience and commercial operation. - Tags
- Rice Wine Town, Exhibition, Experience Hall, Waterfront Commercial
- Production Technology
- Through the investigation and comparison of various materials, the facade decoration is made of recycled bamboo as the main material of the exterior wall: The recycled bamboo is made from original bamboo, which has the advantages of convenient materials, simple processing technology and environmental protection. The bamboo planks are preprocessed into L-shaped members in the factory, which reduces the on-site assembling workload and joint treatment, and improves the construction speed and the accuracy of on-site installation.
- Design Challenge
- The original plan was to adopt a wooden structure. In consideration of the tight cycle of the project and the fire prevention standards of large-scale wooden structure buildings, as well as the rainy climate in Jiangnan, the poor durability of wooden structure and high maintenance requirements in the later period, the wooden structure form was finally abandoned and the steel frame structure form was adopted which was more fast and controllable.
- Project Duration
- The project started in 12. 2020 in Shaoxing Of Zhejiang and finished in 09. 2021.
- Operation Flow
- The site is surrounded by a dense water network. In ancient times, it was the waterway of Shaoxing Grain transport, facing the Dashu River in the east, with good landscape conditions. The design makes full use of this advantage, the three-story building volume is stacked and retreated back from south to north, forming a number of roof terraces overlooking the Dashu River, creating more possibilities for the later use of the restaurant. On one side of the river, the ground floor exits to form a gray space facing the landscape. As the extension and transition of the interior space, the boundary between interior and exterior is blurred and softened, forming a direct connection with the water surface.
- Research
- Modular space and modular form are highly unified, bringing the maximum degree of rapid prefabrication and installation, but also fit the actual requirements of rapid construction and cost control. The original plan was to adopt a wooden structure. In consideration of the tight cycle of the project and the fire prevention standards of large-scale wooden structure buildings, as well as the rainy climate in Jiangnan, the poor durability of wooden structure and high maintenance requirements in the later period, the wooden structure form was finally abandoned and the steel frame structure form was adopted which was more fast and controllable.
- Inspiration
- The design makes full use of the landscape advantages of the site, the three-story building volume is stacked and retreated back from south to north, forming a number of roof terraces overlooking the Dashu River, creating more possibilities for the later use of the restaurant.
Drawing on the strong functional adaptability of traditional wooden frame architecture and Domino architecture system, the scheme decided to take 4.8mx4.8mx4.8m cubic square as the basic module of the building. - Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Li Yao, main image, 2021.
Image #2: Photographer Li Yao, The bird view, 2021.
Image #3: Photographer Li Yao, The portion of architectural facade, 2021.
Image #4: Photographer Li Yao, The view accross the river, 2021.
Image #5: Photographer Li Yao, Perspective view of the building entrance, 2021.
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