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Architects: Ray&Emilio Studio
- Area: 600 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Zhou Fang
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Lead Architect: Runwu Fang, Minghao Wang
Text description provided by the architects. The "Warehouse within a Warehouse" Media Center is a renovation project of an old industrial building. Located in Mantoushan, the old city area of Hangzhou, it involves transforming an abandoned No. 18 military supply warehouse into an industrial design product exhibition hall and media release center. The owner, Bo Le Design, is a highly influential industrial design company that aims to meet various needs such as showcasing innovative industrial products, hosting small art exhibitions, seasonal releases of new products in the industry, and artistic lectures. Upon entering this space for the first time, one's eyes are drawn to the sloping roof supported by wooden structures with direct and efficient triangular connections forming intersecting relationships throughout. The warehouse had previously undergone renovations with a glass roof installed at its ridge allowing ample natural light inside. We hope to preserve complete information about this place: its historical significance as an old military warehouse and traces left behind after transformation. This requires us to deeply explore the unique spatial charm of the original site while enhancing the sense of strength inherent in these wooden structures and fully utilizing natural light introduced through skylights—creating a distinct internal space tailored specifically for displaying industrial products or launching new ones.
Naming it "Warehouse within a Warehouse" also stems from our fascination with this word itself—the top part represents structure while middle signifies entrance; we can see from its structural composition that "warehouse" truly embodies authenticity when compared against traditional residential buildings where entry rarely occurs via gable walls but warehouses allow for such access instead—a pure vertical depth similar to Western basilicas formed directly by their underlying structure components. We envision creating something entirely novel—an updated version akin to Brazilian Basilica architecture—that strengthens essential characteristics associated with warehousing spaces including heightened perception towards their profound depths achieved through segmental displacement techniques emphasizing layered dimensions extending infinitely into space.
Warehouses were originally meant for storage purposes; however post-renovation they serve not only as places exhibiting objects but highlight authentic attributes of industrial products—namely, their nature as "objects." The value lies in creation and imbuing objects with soul through a state where heart and hand are unified, granting them additional worth. This parallels the process we undertook to create this space—a construction that unearths its original spatial value while endowing it with spirit rather than making abrupt changes. The relationship between the "new warehouse" within the "old warehouse" is dynamic. It goes beyond mere containment on a volumetric level; our design aims for an interplay between these two structures. We hope they intersect at certain points instead of being limited to contrast or fusion alone—an intricate entanglement resulting from interactions between new and old elements. Thus, we extended the structure of the "new warehouse," including its newly formed sloping rooflines upwards by selecting complex junctions among existing components below—the new ridge section encloses intersections created by older structures effectively serving as framing devices—to enhance people's perception towards structural complexity. While old structures descend from top downwards, new ones rise up from bottom creating an entirely fresh dialogue in-between regions.
This interplay isn't confined solely within physical architecture; due to skylights present throughout spaces naturally lit cascades downward whereas artificial lighting installed along newer sections emanates upward forming another layer of intersectional selection alongside natural light sources. A hierarchical relationship encapsulated by “warehouse” unfolds gradually: As layers decrease structurally speaking,the most densely packed display area emerges enveloping outermost parts connecting windows found in pre-existing buildings via openings designed specifically for admitting light into interior spaces—this constant transformation creates positive-negative exchanges guiding observers' attention toward subtle visual cues unintentionally encountered during exploration—we aim for visitors' experience inside this space to be both dynamic and continuous.
Following suit with inclined roofs shaped like Chinese character '仓',a three-dimensional roadshow theater forms naturally—one row after another arranged according to roof slope allowing individuals to situate themselves along this gradient—this theater space caters well to the majority of industrial product launches. As people perceive different heights, they become more acutely aware of potential hidden behind these structures and experience roof slope variations in diverse physical conditions; during this process, it gradually becomes clear that although the new '仓' structure appears simple on its surface,it is closely related to functional usage,cavity spaces,and other vital aspects.
