Image: http://www.zhulong.com
The OCT Art and Design Gallery is an additions and alterations project by Urbanus located in Shenzhen, China. The original structure, built in the early 1980s, was a warehouse that served as the laundry house of the Shenzhen Bay Hotel.
Image: http://www.zhulong.com
In the alteration, the warehouse was wholly preserved. A new glass façade with a hexagonal graphic pattern was built around the preserved warehouse.
Image: http://www.china-designer.com
The hexagonal motif is repeated in the museum’s interior. Derived from various combinations and permutations of the hexagon, this results in a complex and irregularly shaped interior space.
Image: http://www.china-designer.com
In the design, two distinct exhibition spaces were created through the use of materiality. In the first instance, the entire space is totally cladded in timber.
Image: http://www.zhulong.com
Another part of the museum employed concrete on all its surfaces.
Image: http://www.china-designer.com
The irregular spaces of the new architectural intervention are in contrast to the rectangularity of the preserved warehouse, which is also accentuated by its white walls. The windows of the preserved warehouse are entirely boarded up, creating an enclosed exhibition space.
Image: http://www.china-designer.com
Thus, it is only from the newly added architectural spaces that views of the surroundings can be taken in.
Image: http://www.china-designer.com
The irregularity of the newly added spaces endows them with a functional flexibility. Besides serving as exhibition halls, they can also accommodate a variety of different events such as fashion, product and jewelry launches.
Image: http://www.zhulong.com
Image: http://www.china-designer.com
Image: http://www.zhulong.com
Image: http://www.zhulong.com
Image: http://www.zhulong.com
Urbanus is a architecture and urban design practice with offices in Shenzhen and Beijing. The firm’s works have been featured in publications such as Abitare, a+u, and Domus.
References: Baidu Library, Zhulong, China Designer
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Incredible project! The facade gives the feeling of something really light, such as honeycomb… and then you discover this Huge concrete structure, this bunker! Should be a really strange feeling!