The transformation of China surprising less and less. From a largely rural country with almost no cars to the megacities it became and its technological revolution in just a few decades is just a sample of its economic power.
In this transformation, architecture and megaconstructions appeared in an avant-garde way. Next to Hong Kong y Macaothe new area of the isla de Hengqinin Zhuhaia city in the south, is one of the fastest growing today.
There is located the Henquin Culture & Art Complexa work of the architectural studio Atelier Apeironwhose size is surprising.
He Henquin Culture & Art Complex It was inaugurated in 2024 and occupies a total of 142,560 square meters. It is located next to a park surrounded by residential towers and was designed to integrate three organizations into a single complex.
What is the Henquin Cultural and Artistic Complex in China like?
The studio entered the competition to build the project in 2018 and six years after winning the bid, it completed the building. The Cultural and Artistic Complex is limited between dense residential towers and an open urban park and its creators explained that instead of placing a «solid» building, they preferred to adopt the strategy of thinking of it as «empty», to «create an energetic complex with large-scale porous spaces for this high-density urban context.»
The main public space on the lower level is made up of three caves with giant arches clad with wood and bamboo panels, to create a transparent window and a large open space for urban living.
It was used to project it a inverted catenary (structural form that an arch adopts by reversing the natural curve) as geometry, a common prototype shared by traditional Chinese culture and classical Western culture.
«During the day, people can directly enjoy the views of the park outside the building. At night, the three transparent arched halls emit soft light and They become the background stage for various public events in the park,» says the presentation text.
They explain that each arch has a unique character, with a specific atmosphere: the Hall of Knowledge, the Performance Hall and Exhibition Hall. «These three rooms can be experienced not only in continuous movement, but as parallel worlds. Above the arches, there are modular space units designed to maximize flexibility in the future,» detailed Atelier Apeiron.
He Hall of Knowledge is inspired by Oodi library of Finland, houses the library and an archive center. It features vertical book blocks that create a sort of «vertical village» for readers of all ages.
He Show Hall It contains a large open stage and a «black box» theater for concerts, dance, dramas and operas. Lastly, the Exhibition Hall It features a porous space designed to house art galleries and a science museum, with circular skylights that flood the interior with natural light.
In this way the Henquin Cultural and Artistic Complex It brings together three cultural activities such as the museum, theater and library under one roof.
From the point of view of the morphology of the place, the profile of the building curves from the northern hill to the southern river, and the overlapping green urban balconies are places of celebration.
Finally, they indicate that there is a huge system of skylights over the three arched rooms. «On the one hand, both sides can be opened automatically to discharge the hot air inside the building. On the other hand, the transparency can be adjusted according to weather changes, being able to reduce the energy consumption of the air conditioning system«, they conclude.
