Located in the downtown of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, the Arts Center is currently used for the presentation and sales of the “Fengqi Yuming” project. Though a sales center, the Arts Center is artistic and pure in design.

The “Arts Center” is a carrier of Greentown’s grand vision of pursuing ideal life. “Yu” (jade) is the soul of the “Fengqi Yuming” project. The core of the scheme comes from a verse in The Book of Songs - “As knife and file make smooth the bone, so jade is wrought by chisel and stone”, regarding “fine jade is wrought after cut and polish” as the starting point of building image. “The mountain is glorious with jade”. The Arts Center is expected to become the uncut jade of the project and also a beautiful view at the corner, adding luster to the entire community and allowing passers-by to feel a poetic touch like uncut jade.

The project is located at the intersection of Kaiyuan Road and South Hengdu Road, with newly-built residential quarters on the east and south, and existing residential quarters on the north and west. Limited by the demolition process of urban planning, the site is inherently irregular in shape.

In general drawing design, the building accommodates its surroundings and is arranged close to the boundary line at the intersection of the street corner. The architectural form adapts to the irregular boundary line, and the building is cut in three-dimensions on the irregular plane, presenting a gem-like structure.

For material selection, five pieces of double-laminated hollow glass are used to present the virtual part of the gem-like structure at the street corner, and other structures including roofs are wrapped in 4mm-thick customized patterned punched-plates to present the material part, more in line with the architectural idea of ‘polished jade’.

Constrained by the site, unlike the traditional sales center, the entrance of the Arts Center does not directly face the stream of people. Standing at the street corner on the west is the three-story gem-like structure. The Arts Center is pioneering in form since there are no windows, doors or openings in the pure special-shaped glass.

The main entrance is located to the southeast of the site, and people are introduced into the building through the road adjacent to the boundary line, thus forming a long streamline space experience. The long streamline also brings more design possibilities to the landscape. The water courtyard in the center of the site creates a tranquil interior setting for the 20m-wide reception hall east of the building.

As the core functional spaces of the Arts Center, the exhibition hall and the reception hall are close yet far apart in distance, different yet same in style, creating a contrast between hardness and softness, motion and stillness. The former can be seen from a distance, while the latter from a close distance, making two different space experiences and creating a poetic architectural space.
Site limitation is the top challenge. The design of the Arts Center has seen a breakthrough from the limitation, creating a unique architectural image and a more vivid and interesting architectural space experience.

The Arts Center is a jade-like glass box, with a height of 12m to 15m, a depth of 11m and a width of 25m, presenting a special-shaped space without columns. In the design process, various structures and glass curtain walls were compared, and finally, the dense-column steel frame structure combining steel frame and curtain wall support system was selected. The safety of this structure under different load conditions has been verified through the calculation of structural software 3D3S.

In the course of construction, such practical problems as splicing of giant steel structures and installation of large glass surfaces were great challenges for construction implementation. However, a good gain takes long pain. Just like the design concept that “as knife and file make smooth the bone, so jade is wrought by chisel and stone”, the spirit of “polished jade” is embodied throughout the construction process.

“Suitability” is the architect’s understanding of sustainability, including suitable design, suitable materials and suitable construction.

In the early days of design, while overcoming the site limitation and creating a unique shape, the architect considered various factors such as cost, cycle and completion, and the concept of sustainability in every aspect of the project. In the selection of glass, aluminum plates and steel structures, the architect fully consulted and mastered all technical parameters, and selected appropriate parameters to ensure the completion of the building.

Low-e glass and double skin system (including the roof) were used in the design. Low-e glass helps a lot in building thermal energy consumption. The double skin provides a thermal insulation barrier for the exterior wall and roof and reduces energy consumption of the building.

In the design process, the architect fully explored the characteristics of materials and the perfect integration of materials and textures, and highlighted the quality of details by contrasting such materials as glass, profiles and perforated aluminum plates, thus constructing an artful and gorgeous building.