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DQZ Cultural Center
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Danish based firm
HAO / Holm Architecture Office and
collaborators AI have been invited to create a proposal for the new DQZ
Cultural Center in the city of Daqiuzhuang in northern China. The
Center is located in a fairly newly developed part of the city of
Daqiuzhuang situated approximately 200 kilometers south of Beijing in
northern China. A rural village in a desolated salty marshland only 30
years ago, Daqiuzhuang has grown from village to city rapidly due to its
early investments in and production of the city’s main commodity:
steel. The DQZ Culture Center building occupies a redesigned plaza that
mimics the historic marshland of the city in its tone and variety of
plantlife, combining landscape, trees, flexible water features, and
gathering spaces into a new urban center with the 20,000 M2 / 200,000 SF
DQZ Cultural Center at its core.
The new DQZ building takes its form from the traditional Chinese
courtyard square. By lifting the square in the diagonal corners, dual
entry points to the building are created which lead visitors and locals
through the building’s ground level public programs to the mid- and
upper-level exhibition spaces while extending the existing North-South
axis of the surrounding city.
The inner courtyard of the building creates a protected lush
landscape with cherry trees and terraces, which can be used as an
outdoor venue for local theater and festival events. The central
exhibition space of the building opens up visually through glass facades
to the courtyard connecting the interior spaces with the exterior
courtyard.
Celebrating the history of the city’s growth, the DQZ building’s
facade is made of perforated steel plates. This allows for natural
ventilation as well as the integration of the building’s signage into
the facade itself. The building is designed to integrate geo-thermal
heating for heating and cooling as well the integration of PV cells in
parts of the roof and in areas of the public plaza.
“We
are exited for the opportunity to work with the city of Daqiuzhuang.
With the DQZ building we wanted to generate a design that unites past
and present in one building. It simultaneously integrates much needed
public functions for the expanding city from kindergartens to areas for
community gathering and cultural exhibitions while celebrating the
history of the area through the use of steel in the building façade and
structure.” – Jens Holm, founder HAO / Holm Architecture Office
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