Gold Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2020
City Of Light Community Center
by Kris Lin
- A' Design Award 2020 Gold Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Excellence Group
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 42,325
- Verification code D7C9204086 · Verify this award
About City Of Light Community Center
City of Light is a community center built in an old district of Shanghai, China. The building holds a gymnasium, a yoga classroom, a children's themed pavilion, a cafe, an art gallery, an elderly health center and a children's study area. The form follows the rhythm of the river in front of the site, so the facade is curved and continuous like moving water. Aluminum plates, an economical and common material, were shaped into a hyperboloid surface with the help of three-dimensional modeling. The open square in front invites residents to meet and interact.
Kris Lin's City Of Light Community Center represents a distinguished contribution to contemporary architectural discourse, demonstrating how parametric design methodologies can produce structures that transcend mere functional accommodation to become sculptural landmarks within their contexts. The building's facade treatment reveals a sophisticated understanding of how continuous curvilinear surfaces can animate architectural volume, with the undulating bands creating rhythmic visual interest that shifts perception as one moves around the structure or as lighting conditions change throughout the day. The architectural concept appears to draw upon the vocabulary of natural landforms—perhaps sand dunes, water ripples, or geological striations—translating these organic references into built form through advanced computational design and precise fabrication techniques. The integration of linear illumination along each horizontal band demonstrates thoughtful consideration of the building's nocturnal presence, transforming the structure into a luminous sculpture that maintains visual engagement after sunset. The fenestration strategy balances transparency with the sculptural integrity of the facade, setting glazed openings within the recessed channels between bands rather than interrupting the flowing surfaces. This community center typology benefits from the building's formal approach, as the welcoming, approachable quality of the organic forms may help diminish institutional coldness often associated with public facilities. The warm interior lighting visible through the glazing suggests active programming and human presence, reinforcing the building's role as a gathering place. The relationship between the architectural object and its landscape setting appears carefully considered, with the green foreground providing natural contrast to the building's material palette while maintaining visual openness that allows appreciation of the sculptural form. Viewers might contemplate how architectural innovation can serve community needs while simultaneously advancing formal discourse.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- As a public community project, this project is set up as a city station. It is a public open community building with gymnasium, yoga classroom, children s theme pavilion, cafe, art gallery, elderly health center, children s study area, etc. It is a community-oriented open space, but at the same time, we want to be the center and landmark of the surrounding community.So we hope to design a fluid building like water, and hope that the square in front will function as a very open community.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- area 17222sq.ft
- Tags
- Streamlined building, The beauty of the curve, Urban shared space, Communication, Lighting
- Production Technology
- In this project what we adopted is a relatively cost effective and conventional material aluminum plate as a material choice, but we are challenging to design a curved facade, so it is difficult to install aluminum plate on the streamlined lines.And at the same time it functions as a hyperboloid. We used 3D model design and finally made the shape of the building. We realized a hyperboloid effect with aluminum plates. Although it uses economical materials, it is still challenging.
- Design Challenge
- I hope that this project will bring new vitality in the surrounding old city. We have adopted a new architectural approach and hope it will become a landmark in the surrounding communities, using the creative and fluid architecture. We hope to drive the vitality of the city and create more space, increase more ties between people so that it will become a community center.
- Project Duration
- The project started in Jan 2018 in Shanghai,China, and finished in JAN 2019 in Shanghai,China,and was exhibited in in Shanghai,China,Jan 2019.
- Operation Flow
- We hope to design an open public space and strive to build a center of the city to increase the interaction of the neighborhood instead of estrange people with the city architecture development. I hope everyone has more communities communication and people to people contact.So we hope to make a more open space for everyone to enter.
- Research
- In fact, this is a new building based on an old town project. The government wants to build a city station in the old city,hoping to allow more community people to participate, enter and increase the interaction between the neighborhoods. Rather than because of the construction and development of the city, people are becoming more and more estranged. I hope that everyone will have more exchanges.
- Inspiration
- A river is in front of this project. So we want to develop the design concept from the rhythm of the water itself with the usage of the liquid-like blob architecture. My inspiration comes from the undulating rhythm of the water.
- Image Credits
- Image #1,2,3,4,5: Photographer KLID 2019
- Patents
- Copyrights belongs to KLID (Kris Lin International Design)
Colors of City Of Light Community Center
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