- region:
860 square meters
year:
2022
Manufacturers: Nippon paint
Text description provided by architects. The building was built in the 1990s and is located in an old community next to Yishan Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai. Compared with the surrounding residence to the north and south, the building has a unique east-west orientation. They intertwine with these older low-rise neighborhoods and the rapidly developing high-rise office buildings nearby, giving the building a special texture and sense of hierarchy.
The main building has three floors. The northern part has four floors. It has a large private courtyard on the southern side, and small narrow courtyards on the western and eastern sides. The building was originally used as a kindergarten and later became an office. After multiple additions and renovations, the building now has multiple levels of roof deck, terraces and balconies, which also complicated the structure system, mixing partial frame structure with partial brick and concrete structure. The overall style of the building is modern and concise, and the east and south balconies give the building a distinctive horizontal texture.
The main goal of renovation is to make minimal changes to maintain its original appearance as much as possible. At the same time, it meets new functional requirements and gives the building some new features. Taking into account that the distance to the neighboring residence from the eastern side is about seven metres, and to ensure the privacy of the apartment, a new wall was created to enclose the original open corridors. New openings were installed on the added walls to allow sunlight, air and view into the building. The locations of these openings correspond precisely to each room and its landscape. The larger upper part of the vertical chain-shaped openings allows more sunlight and air into the rooms, while the smaller lower part of the openings ensures the rooms’ privacy. These continuous windows in the form of a vertical series provide a dynamic element to the community and bring a unique, graceful and refined quality to the interior space of the building.
As a distinct architectural element with strong cultural connotation of Shanghai’s ancient Western-style houses, balconies and railings show a lively lifestyle and cultural temperament through their artistic forms. In the project, we continue this tradition of handcrafted wrought iron railings. With series-shaped vertical openings, the whole handrail has two types: one is curved flat handrail, with its curved design providing a good view for people to gaze from the handrail; The second is a three-dimensional kangaroo railing that expands the space to the outside, providing a seating space for people to rest, thus displaying the informal lifestyle of the balcony and interacting with the outdoor environment.
Due to the relatively complex shape of kangaroo railing, it becomes quite a challenge for the final effect. This is done through 3D design, solid model optimization, and workers preparing the construction on site according to the drawings.
At the entrance to the building, a concrete folding system is interspersed with red brick walls to enhance the entrance space and divert the flow of people entering the building. The building is painted in matte white, emphasizing the origin of the minimalist modern style. At the same time, lines of red brick were built at the bottom of the windows and at the top of the walls, giving the building a new character through the use of red brick strokes. We envision this renovation project to be about improving and transforming the building itself and the entire community environment. As the subsequent “Beautiful Community” project progresses, the quality of living in the entire area will be improved.
(Tags for translation)Architecture