China’s Jinhua Architecture Park
|An architecture lover’s paradise, the Jinhua Architecture Park in China is a two kilometer ribbon of land that winds itself along the Yiwu River. It includes seventeen specially designed pavilions by leading Chinese and international architects. The project began in 2002 as a memorial dedication from Chinese architect Ai Weiwei for his father, Chinese poet Ai Qing.
The pavilions have varied functions such as ceramics galleries, restaurants and performance spaces. The designers were given an opportunity to create architecture in which the function follows the form, resulting in a showcase of unique building displaying the diversity of modern architecture. This can be seen with Swiss firm; Herzog and De Muerons design for a reading space.
Normally concerned with facade treatments, they were encouraged to unleash their creativity into a more sculptural form. There creation was an inspirational reading space formed by a maze of twisted red metal honeycomb. Despite the distinctly different building forms the park manages to maintain a homogeneous design by cleverly linking the pavilions with devices such as materiality, vistas and landscaping.
Tagged: Ai Qing, Chinese architecture, Jinhua Architecture Park, Yiwu River
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Also by KATHERINE BRICE
An illusion of a futuristic world
An exhibition on architecture where the building becomes the art? The front of Bratislava, The Slovak National gallery, has been converted into what looks like a four lane highway, suspended precariously over the footpath. The classic brutalist facade of the gallery used to be concealed behind a big billboard advertising Ford. NL Architects decided if they had to have advertising on the building, they were going to do it in style. This transformation was designed as advertising for Modernice!, an exhibition of work by Dutch firm, NL architects. The exhibition is displayed in a in a fifty-meter long arm of the Bratislava museum and runs until June 21.
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