Articles by Collin Chen

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Folding Roof Courtyard House / MAT Office

May 10, 2023 Collin Chen 0

The project is located in Xishaoqu Village, Miyun District, Beijing. In this large village which is surrounded by mountains on three sides, most of the existing houses are traditional northern farmhouses. The owner of the project hopes to cooperate with the village to revitalize the vacant courtyards as a leisure place and weekend homestay, with the operation services provided by the villagers. Folding Roof Courtyard is one of these courtyards, which is planned as a public function, such as reception and workshop, due to its good site conditions.

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WENSHANDIESHUI Station of The XILI Lake Greenway / TJAD Original Design Studio

May 9, 2023 Collin Chen 0

The first sight. Approximately 3.5km in length, THE XILI LAKE GREENWAY (Phase I) in Shenzhen extends between the outer circle of the water source protection area and various urban sites. This project began with some attempt to amplify this linearly compressed space. The northern section of the greenway is already deep in the mountains. In the gap between the woodland boundary, the basic agricultural land, and the water source protection boundary, we found this site occupied by some haphazard work sheds. On the side of the site is the Yanqing Drain, a flood interceptor that has just been completed as well as a disused fish pond and a few broken fishing shelters. However, with the surrounding lychee forest and a distant view of Xili Lake and Yangtai Hill, the site itself has a valuable quality of being a place to immerse oneself in, and a place to introduce the natural scenery from the outside.

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Hangzhou International School (HIS) / line+ studio + gad

May 8, 2023 Collin Chen 0

“The future education scenarios we envision should be a community where knowledge, information, and vitality are intertwined, and sharing, diversity, and complexity are embraced.”——Zhu Peidong.

HIS Hangzhou International School is one of the earliest K-15 international schools in Hangzhou. In 2018, a new campus was built on the south bank of the Qiantang River in Baima Lake, which includes three academic departments of primary, and secondary school, as well as an independent ECE (Early Childhood Education) program. Based on the school’s non-traditional educational philosophy, objective site constraints, and the self-reflection of architects, we attempted to redefine the meaning of education and create a new teaching scenario characterized by intensive land use and high-efficiency space, with shared and communicative space as the main feature.

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Pyramid Scope / People’s Architecture Office

May 8, 2023 Collin Chen 0

The ecosystems on which we depend appear stable but are in fact extremely fragile. This contradiction inspired the Tower of Mirrors, an inflated fabric structure that appears metallic in material and robust in form. The Mirror Tower is a combination of two pyramid forms that are mirrored vertically. It is suspended above an open-air courtyard at the Kingway Brewery as an installation for the 9th Shenzhen Biennale for Urbanism and Architecture.

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Pyramid Scope / People’s Architecture Office

May 8, 2023 Collin Chen 0

The ecosystems on which we depend appear stable but are in fact extremely fragile. This contradiction inspired the Tower of Mirrors, an inflated fabric structure that appears metallic in material and robust in form. The Mirror Tower is a combination of two pyramid forms that are mirrored vertically. It is suspended above an open-air courtyard at the Kingway Brewery as an installation for the 9th Shenzhen Biennale for Urbanism and Architecture.

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Taihang Xinyu Art Museum / Wang Chong Studio

May 7, 2023 Collin Chen 0

In the south Taihang Mountain near to Shibanyan Town, Linzhou, Anyang , Henan Province, driving along the road beside the stream, the upright cliffs, chopped with knives and axes, rush towards us. In Guo Xi’s painting theory “Linquan gaozhi”, there is a saying in the landscape training, “Taihang rests on China, and the face is Lin Lu”, here it can be said that the appearance is responsible. Shibanyan Town is located in the Taihang Grand Canyon Scenic Area. In recent years, it has been promoted to the most important sketching base in the north with the positioning of “Chinese Painting Valley”. It is based on the background of the revitalization of rural cultural tourism that an iconic art gallery is planned to be built in the entrance to the town. In order to avoid the inefficient development brought about by the check and balance of interests, rights and power, a tripartite cooperation model of government artist social capital is practiced here. The art museum supported by the policy provides aesthetic education and cultural benefits for the public, and erects a building for Linzhou. It is a cultural brand; it also provides a living room for cultural exchanges for the artist Meng Xinyu, who has painted the beautiful scenery of Taihang for a long time; it also provides cultural tourism income for local investors to maintain the operation of cultural facilities. The shaping of multiple values brings sustainable longterm development.

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Symbiotic Urban Furniture Project / B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio

May 5, 2023 Collin Chen 0

City of “Protrusions” – Diverse spaces and versatile components make up the experience of daily life in a freely growing city. People can make use of the opportunities offered in contemporary society without constraint. They can unleash their imagination on these “protrusions” into the urban fabric. It allows new and unique possibilities to happen. Creative people can use these “protrusions” to make spaces that are no longer dedicated to a single purpose, but multifunctional spaces with temporary activities instead. In that moment, the sense, of life and home, is created.

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Zikawei Library / Wutopia Lab

April 30, 2023 Collin Chen 0

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. — Dead Poets Society (1989)

Zikawei Library: Basilica in the library – At the beginning of 2023, the Zikawei Library, designed by Wutopia Lab for four years, was officially opened. Coming to be the most sensational cultural landmark in Shanghai, it was also the first time that the project was known to the whole city before the official announcement from the studio. Now, this article is more like a summary instead of its unveiling. Before it became the Zikawei Library, the building was designed as a bookstore by David Chipperfield Architects. Unfortunately, just after the facade and the structure of the building were completed, the building was left vacant. After two investments of the bookstore had bowed out, this building was eventually designated to be the public library in Zikawei District and named the Zikawei Library.

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Guangzhou South Railway Station Faxian Plaza / XAA

April 29, 2023 Collin Chen 0

Background Overview. From “an import hub of the Pearl River Delta rail transportation” to the living room and portal hub economic zone of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, Guangzhou South Railway Station has undergone six adjustments and upgrades in planning and positioning during the past fifteen years. In the future, the core area of Guangzhou South Railway Station will also be developed into a worldwide large TOD new city, which will transform “people flow ” into “talent flow, information flow, capital flow, and business flow”. Located in the core area of Guangzhou South Railway Station, Faxian Plaza is 150 meters away from Shibi Station of Guangzhou Metro Line 2. The site is bordered by South Railway Station South Road in the southeast, Shizhou Middle Road in the northeast, which is facing Guangzhou South Railway Station with convenient transportation and the green ecological square in the central axis of South Railway Station in the north, boasting rich landscape resources and open view.