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Architects: Atelier Guo
- Area: 70 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Qingshan Wu
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Lead Architects: Liaohui Guo
Enhanced public space. Blue Square is located in the intricate village fabric of Dali Dong Village, serving as an open space for communal gatherings and feasts during important events. To preserve the essence of the open space, the project gracefully intervenes with the surroundings, harmonizing with the diverse environment and reshaping the village's public area. When it hosted the first Dong Village feast during construction, its communal essence had already found a new continuity.
Structure and Canopy. Constructed with a steel and wood system, Blue Square responds to the traditional Dong architectural principles. Four timbers clamped to cruciform steel nodes form the bundled columns, with very thin steel beams passing through the gaps in the middle of the columns. Achieving a delicate balance between horizontal and vertical proportions, it complements adjacent Dong village granaries with their column and tie constructions. The shallow eaves maintain a frame-like state. The combination of horizontal beams and the roof evokes the local drying rack - the bottom horizontal member of the frame is used for drying blue-dyed fabric and other clothes.
The type of the project resembles a central church, with hanging indigo-dyed fabric acting as a variable in the space. The canopy cover creates a sheltered space at a human scale for shade and rain avoidance, further emphasizing the square center.
Various Forms of Blue. In Dong village where indigo dyeing is a significant industry, the project incorporates the prevalent blue color as a thematic element in materials, using the traditional blue dyeing process and its residue to treat steel, wood, and fabric.
The thin indigo-dyed wooden columns, processed through indigo dyeing techniques, create intriguing tension with the wide raw wooden columns of traditional construction systems. Multiple layers of rust-resistant treatment on steel plates were carefully designed, producing a texture reminiscent of blue woven fabric. Traditional indigo-dyed cloth is closely combined with industrially produced blue waterproof fabric, forming a sturdy, waterproof, and uniquely textured composite material.
Square Marking. The eave-like steel components gradually lose their original color under sunlight and rain, and the metallic linear outlines shine more brightly between the contiguous ink-colored roof tiles. Returning to a more macro scale, the simple square mark from the initial sketches is highlighted once again. The original goal of the design resurfaces: to create a square marking in the historical village.
