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Architects: atelier mearc
- Area: 315 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Shan Liang
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Manufacturers: RHEINZINK, ARAKAWA, Daiken, Ikea, Rise
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Lead Architects: Wei Zhou
Text description provided by the architects. Xietu Sub-District is located in the northeast corner of Xuhui District adjacent to the border with Huangpu District. From the 1950s to 1990s, workers new villages, multi-story houses and high-rise commercial buildings, each representing a different period of urban life, formed various and rich neighborhoods. Kangju Community is one of the 19 communities of Xietu Sub-Districts. The status quo is: that people who live in different lined up and staggered residences are actual strangers to each other even though they live in the same neighborhood not only natural barriers in age, and background but also perception differences.
No. 77 Chaling Road, once the venue of a fresh supermarket, when being considered a place that could accommodate a new type of community space outward, a goal gradually emerged as turning this place into where residents of the Kangju community meet. ‘Indoor Chaling Road’ is what people like to call this red tiles paved corridor after its completion. Parallel to the outdoor Chaling Road, the 2.4-meter-wide and 40-meter-long corridor interior not only corresponds to the narrow road that recalls the mark of life but also expresses the attitude of "invitation", "openness" and "integration" as an important part of this public space.
By organizing the traditional neighborhood committee functions including mediation room, office, server room, daily services, and other newly developed self-help, elderly, and caring assistance to meet the multiple needs in the corridor, together with the modular study seats and micro fire stations, the complicated functions are arranged in a simple form, together with an easy and comfortable sensory experience.
Crossing the corridor is the activity space. The reversed arch top shapes the spirituality of the space. The windows close to the ceiling connect the users and the community environment, whilst bringing in natural light and combining with the interior lighting by design, presenting the symmetry of the space. Moveable and storable furniture fully satisfies the need to use the multi-functional space.
Walking along Chaling Road, this public building gets into view politely. The titanium-zinc plate roof cleverly covers all the pipelines. The original exposed electrical box was then redesigned into a poster column. Finally, the decorous façade faces the street in a clean and tidy way, and the adoption of red, white, yellow and grey colors selected from this area dissolves the sense of distance, making it the new community center. Kanghui Community Space, where a sense of community identity based on understanding is slowly arising.
