Project Overview

The project is located on the east side of the northern extension line of the central axis of Beijing, demonstrating significant humanistic value, and the owner wants to present a prosperous Tang Dynasty-style grandeur and magnificence on the overall construction land of about 6 hectares. The project draws inspiration from the flourishing Tang Dynasty and interprets the charm of the Tang Dynasty with contemporary craftsmanship. The design deeply explores China's cultural continuity and humanistic feelings throughout thousands of years from the inside out, and puts forward the abstract concept of "expanse, grandness, mightiness, elegance". It draws on the architectural proportions of the Tang Dynasty and uses a new architectural language to recreate the unique charm of its culture, forming a high-level design perception that is not confined to the form but retains the charm. The overall interior space and spatial sequence follow the perception of the Chinese humanistic ritual order and use the spatial form of one axis and three courtyards to create a multi-level linkage between architectural form, landscape environment, and interior space, and convey the oriental gardens' aesthetic taste of "creating unlimited feelings in limited space" with spatial language. The design method of interpreting traditional aesthetics with modern language is in line with the owner's value of "inheriting history with innovative thinking".

Organisation

HZS

Team

Han Wei, Yao Peng, Jiang Dexiang, Ma Xiaoxing, Zhang Peng, Zhang Zhan

Project Brief

The project makes an in-depth exploration of the flourishing culture of the Tang Dynasty, re-interprets the unique cultural style of the Tang Dynasty with modern architectural vocabulary, and perfectly reconstructs the majesty and elegance of the Tang Dynasty with a masterful approach based on oriental aesthetics and balanced humanistic thoughts. Following the humanistic ritual space that has been passed down for thousands of years in China, the design creates an elegant oriental space with three courtyards. Based on the cultural perception of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it extracts four new architectural languages, namely, expanse - soothing roof form, grandness - bracket language with structural beauty, mightiness - majestic and expansive space width proportion, elegance - exquisite humanistic symbols, reproducing the unique cultural connotation of the prosperous Tang Dynasty with modern architectural language.

Project Innovation/Need

The overall roof adopts the hipped roof form. Due to the gentle roof slope, the four stretched and gradually increased wings, the design uses the treatment of quintuple roof slope and roof curve to reproduce the core structural form of the roof in the Tang Dynasty and reshape the style of the architecture in the Tang Dynasty.
The whole bracket system space is the best carrier of the vigorous spirit of the Tang Dynasty, and its grand and complex structure achieves the perfect unity of mechanics, aesthetics, and culture. Based on the perception of the spirit of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the design re-interprets the bracket system and the roof members of beams and pillars and forms a new structural form of layer-by-layer overlap, reproducing the grandeur and magnificence of the Tang Dynasty with modern architectural language.
The architecture of the Tang Dynasty follows the modular regulation of the space width in China, forming the structure composition of the largest middle hall and the smallest secondary room, and the round and powerful column proportion. The design interprets the architectural language and uses corner-cutting form to strengthen the perception of power, making the whole building look more magnificent and brilliant.
The design refines the detail symbols such as roof ridge ornament, carved balustrade, the round lotus pattern, and so on, and turns them into the most direct carrier of the elegance, romance, and perfection of the Tang Dynasty.

Design Challenge

The deep exploration of the Tang culture and the search for the unique spiritual core of the Tang culture are the primary difficulties faced by this project.
The sources of architectural culture. Chang 'an, the core city of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, has had a grand architectural culture pattern since ancient times. Architects carry out a lot of field research on the architectural murals of Dunhuang, Foguang Temple, Nanchan Temple, and the ruins of Daming Palace in Xi 'an, and the large brackets, soothing eaves, and grand proportions are impressive. This allows people to appreciate the architectural form language while feeling the vigorous beauty of Tang architecture.
The sources of humanistic spirit. During this period, China ushered in a group of poets led by Li Bai and Du Fu, whose poems are remembered for centuries. This period also witnessed the birth of Wu Zetian, the only empress in Chinese history, and the widespread of Buddhism represented by Xuanzang... All these demonstrate the unique elegance, inclusiveness, and romantic humanistic feelings of the Tang Dynasty.
With spirit as the core, the design re-interprets the prosperous Tang Dynasty through the architectural structure and adopts the high-level design cognition that is not confined to the form but retains the charm to reproduce the unique humanistic perception of the majestic Tang Dynasty.

Sustainability

We explore the historical sites and trace back to several representative elements of Tang architecture, including the far-reaching elegant roof with gentle arc, the secondary structure that provides internal support and carries the vigorous spirit of the Tang Dynasty, the round and powerful wall stud system that makes the building more magnificent, and the Tang cultural symbols that carry the humanistic spirit of romance and perfection.
The architecture of the Tang style is vigorous, upright, orderly, and not restrained. To create the spirit of the Tang Dynasty in a contemporary form, the design follows the seven-room composition principles of the Tang Dynasty refines the eave scale, and reinterprets the proportions of the brackets with a modern framework, resulting in a soothing architectural form with a modern aesthetic sensibility.
Harmless building materials and a central ventilation system ensure fresh air inside. Water-saving equipment, reclaimed water, and other measures have been adopted, and reclaimed water is used for afforestation irrigation, landscape, and other purposes. In terms of material selection, construction, operation, maintenance, and other links, the project realizes the effective use of resources.
Based on the purpose of inheriting traditional Chinese culture, the design traces the flourishing scenes of the Tang Dynasty, reappears its magnificent and elegant state with a sustainable modern architectural vocabulary, and finds a new foundation for the meaning expressed by traditional architecture.

Architecture - Mixed Use - International

This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow. 
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