This showroom for a true estate developer in Guangzhou, China, is a prototype for a modular developing system designed by Open Architecture to be simply moved or adapted (+ slideshow).
Beijing-based Open Architecture designed the HEX-SYS technique in response to the proliferation of temporary structures erected by home developers throughout the country’s recent building boom.
Normally utilised as revenue offices and showrooms, these buildings are usually scrapped when no longer required.
In accordance to the company – which previously created a school in Beijing that merges with its landscaped gardens – the development of these “standalone flamboyant but quick-lived showroom buildings” results in a significant waste of resources.
“We have been observing an fascinating phenomenon here the place numerous buildings have a really brief lifespan,” Li Hu, a founding spouse at Open Architecture, told Dezeen.
“A single reason is that the land is usually privately owned, which leads to uncertainty and frequently the buildings are demolished.”
The 40-square-metre HEX-SYS modules characteristic a steel framework supporting roofs shaped like inverted umbrellas. These are both sound aluminium panels or slatted screens that filter sunlight to generate shaded outdoor spaces.
The enclosed modules are clad in either glass or anodised aluminium panels, and can be grouped collectively in limitless ways dependent on the functional specifications of the undertaking.
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“What is fascinating about this undertaking is that the modular construction implies that when you put it up again in a distinct website it can type a different configuration,” Hu additional. “This offers it a further flexibility for its complete lifespan so theoretically it just goes on and on [being moved and reconfigured].”
This prototype is situated near to the new Guangzhou South Railway Station in an area that is undergoing significant redevelopment.
It was made for real estate giant Vanke, which needed a short-term facility containing offices, a presentation area, a lounge and a cafe for site visitors.
The architects have been influenced by standard Chinese buildings in which wooden joinery is used to allow the structures to be just dismantled, moved and remounted elsewhere.
Additional inspiration came from the prefabricated buildings developed by 20th-century architects like Le Corbusier and Jean Prouve. All of the building’s elements are fixed with each other without having the require for glues or welding to make it straightforward to disassemble.
Every single of the hexagonal cells is mounted around a central pillar that includes a flue for directing rainwater to a tank so it can be reused to irrigate the surrounding landscaping and refill a modest pond.
The pavilion is raised over the existing parkland on individual piles and the small sum of soil that was excavated is integrated into the landscaping.
A diagrid construction that rises over the developing functions as a beacon that can be illuminated at evening and is noticeable from the nearby train station.
Bamboo plywood is used throughout the interior spaces due to the fact of its ecological properties and durability.
The prototypal pavilion demonstrates one particular attainable application of the HEX-SYS technique, but Hu believes it could be utilised to provide offices, colleges, shops, restaurants or any other single-storey framework.
He is currently hunting for partners to aid build the program so he can realise his ambition of promoting it like a item that can be ordered on the internet, enabling any person to combine units to suit their individual needs.
“Most of the buildings in the planet are not designed by architects,” Hu pointed out, “so we want to produce a constructing block that implies men and women have accessibility to excellent buildings with no hiring an architect.”
Photography is by Zhang Chao.
