Hong Luo Club House / MAD

Jul 2008

By Nico Saieh — Filed under: Public Facilities , Selected , Beijing, China, Concrete

Architects: MAD Office
Location: Beijing, China
Construction year: 2006
Constructed Area: 487.2 sqm
Interior Area: 189.7 sqm
Project Directors: Yansong Ma, Yosuke Hayano
Project Architect: Florian Pucher
Design team: Shen Jun, Christian Taubert, Marco Zuttioni, Yu Kui
Associate Architects & Engineers: IDEA Design Studio
Photographs: Shu He

The expansion of Beijing city has intensively accelerated the development of its periphery area for the last few years, which thereby helped develop the first space typology in China. In the meantime, the suburbia emerged gradually. Enclosed by grand natural environment, Hong Luo Villa district is a popular residential area in north Beijing‘s Miyun-district, which is within one hour’s drive away form the heart of the city. As Hong Luo’s popularity keeps growing, the promise of its rapid development in the foreseeable future has attracted huge investment into the district.

Hong Luo Villa district is a three-phased project. The sites for each phase are allocated along Hong Luo Lake, reflecting the grand view of the mountains sitting behind it. Hong Luo Club floats on the lake, creating an easily accessible public space at the center of the district.

A wood bridge was introduced as an access to the Club House. The house has two branches, one is a swimming pool floating on the lake, the other is an underwater platform. The architectural form is shaped by people’s circulation. Two major roads converge at the center of the house and reach all the way up along an ascending roof. The ever changing water surface joins the ascending roof, expressing the transition from liquid to solid. The space structure and the functions of the house are integrated naturally.

The main access to the house will bring the visitor to 1,300 mm under water, where people feel like walking in the lake. The access road ascends to the ground level gradually as it nears the house, which reveals the main function of the building — a gathering space. The roof shape is a projection of the linear, functional organization of the ground level’s program. The outdoor swimming pool is built into the lake, which keeps the surfaces of the natural and the artificial water at the same level. The architecture explores the city dwellers’ understanding of the nature.

Hong Luo Club House creates an ever changing space that echoes with the surroundings, where people and the nature are united. The mountain and the water provide hope and inspirations for people who live in concrete woods.

: site plan

: ground plan

: elevations

15 comments »

archenx says:

The waving roof was poorly structured as the wooden-ribs and detail is really weak. Furthermore, where is the diagrams? Pure formalism again? Woops, that is hadid-liked student__Ma.

# July 1, 2008 at 19:31

Since the roof is framed by timbers (the steel-rib is too expensive for manufactured), the shape is only designed for the shape. what a pity. The gound-up related roof should be used for walking and touring.

# July 1, 2008 at 19:34

leandro locsin says:

No provisions for curtains, bad grating detail, entry canopy is mis-aligned with the curvilinear water, poor pool rail detail, poor jam detail and bad selection of hinge and door handle for the white door panel, poor main door handle detail.

but great form! the roof fold into a wall dictated the program of space. brilliant!

# July 2, 2008 at 09:27

JUST COOL Design Blog says:

i dont know about functionality but the shape is cool – the night view looks like a seagull about to take flight

# July 2, 2008 at 10:18

AvideDesigner.com says:

Exact, The shape is very élégant… nicework

# July 2, 2008 at 11:04

kristy says:

omg… i wish i lived here. i would never leave though, so that would be the problem!

# July 3, 2008 at 14:08

fp says:

to add to the pseudo architecturel discussion: the structure of this building consits of metal colums, metal beams and a metal spaceframe-like substructure in between. furthermore a layer of insulation between the outside timber and the inside plasterboards. the outside metal-like surface is glassfiber with a layer of paint. to archenx: if the roof was designed for walking and touring as you so brightly suggested, you would have to add handrails and a ladder and end up with a thicker roof package and a poor looking building. i believe you haven’t build in china yet? just some inside knowledge: it took seven different contracters and structural engineers to even get this building that far. if you could check the renderings and diagrams at the beginning you would see that it s not far off. i also suggest to see it as what it is: a build concept rather than a pritzker prize winning masterpiece

# July 8, 2008 at 01:59

David Basulto says:

fp,

Do you have any more insider info on the construction progress? Sounds interesting…

# July 8, 2008 at 15:01

Thiefsie says:

Looks like a beautiful building, even without some of the extravagant detailing that could have been done. Stunning.

# July 9, 2008 at 01:15

david,

check http://www.florianpucher.com under hong luo club you can see a bit of the process involved in this building.

# July 9, 2008 at 04:28

Keith says:

just wonder where they got for its concept

# November 4, 2008 at 14:32

Peter says:

In response to the broad criticism of the project’s detailing. This is China, not Geneva. The trades are not well developed, trade integration is not so developed, material quality is a constant struggle, and no one is going to give you years to fuss with every detail, let alone a month.

Design critique aside, that this was built as well as it was in China is commendable.

# April 20, 2009 at 21:02

roman says: