Lens Office / TAO - Trace Architecture Office

Curated by 韩爽 - HAN Shuang

Architects: TAO - Trace Architecture Office
Area: 1113 m²
Year: 2017
Photographs:Hao Chen

Text description provided by the architects. This project is designed for Lens Magazine, located in 1958 Industrial Avenue in Beijing, as their head office and event place. The building was built in 1958 and served as a warehouse of Transportation Department of Beijing Commercial Storage Company. The Large span pitched roof, supported by wood trusses and iron joints, is a typical warehouse typology in 1950s and indicates an aesthetic of structural purification.

As restoration project mainly interprets the strength of time by reconciling the old and new. The design strategy intends to present the trace of time through spatial sequence and materials. The new plan rearranged the interior with spatial diversity and flexibility. The dark steel panel, due to its mottling surface and straightness, is integrated with the original site specific and brings a new life.

The interior space is divided to several rooms with different scale by a central bookshelf corridor. The bookshelf not only connects the public and private space but also conducting human activities to the spatial fellow.

The book gallery is in the center of the building. It is constructed with book shelves to rebuild rituality that is fading away from modern life, but still corresponding to the cultural identity of Lens magazine. The verticality also brings people’s concentration on the old roof structure. In the south area, the double height space with natural light encouraged people to communicate and enjoy the pleasant office atmosphere. On the other side, the northern area is quieter.

Lens Office / TAO - Trace Architecture Office - Image 25 of 67 — Interior Passage. Image © Hao Chen

The domestic scale with lower ceiling and lounge attaches to the bay windows offers the sense of peace and tranquility. The exhibition space is enclosed by revolving steel wall panels, which are both working as partition walls and exhibition boards for art works. When the panels are opened, the space has a better spatial circulation. As the panels are closed, the exhibition area turns to a courtyard that brings the viewpoint to the upper old roof. It also creates a space for holding lectures and exhibitions.

The openings are corresponding to interior spaces. As the original south windows are too high, the project blocked the higher window and inserts lower windows which bring more light to eye level. The blocked upper window also creates a profound darkness in the roof. The ventilating function is detached from the window and transformed to the ventilation void below. The windows are able to capture the exterior landscape without any structural distractions.