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Architects: SHISUO design office
- Area: 290 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Chang Shan, Sanif, Runzi Zhu
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Lead Architect: Sanif Changshan
Text description provided by the architects. Urbanization has long been seen as a process that deviates from nature. In such process, people in cities gradually drift away from nature. For a long time, the cost of acquiring buildings has inevitably involved burying water bodies, cutting down trees, or encroaching on fields until people have become numb. However, humans themselves originate from nature, and the desire to coexist with nature is instinctual. The Coffee Shed of Luxun Park reflects our contemplation on the dichotomy between artificial and natural—how man-made structures, as buildings, can coexist, symbiotically create with nature.
The Coffee Shed is considered as an architectural insertion. The site is very challenging——An existing canopy with glass roof attached to the main building cannot be removed, and five plane trees are randomly scattered on the site. It is called Coffee Shed because it needs to meet the complex functional requirements of the owner—first, as a coffee space close to the Marriage Registration Office; second, it needs to connect the neighbourhood and the Luxun Park, providing a public crossing path for the citizens; finally, it builds an outdoor sheltered multifunctional activity space for people to rest, shelter from rain, and enjoy the distant views.
The building is imagined as a shelter that connects the indoors and outdoors, like an abstract forest growing in a natural environment formed by five plane trees. After positioning the existing trees, the column positions were calculated to ensure that the foundation would not harm the tree roots and that the steel beams would not conflict with the branches, without the need to cut The slender and straight steel columns contrast with the sturdy and curved tree trunks, with the branches spreading freely above the roof.
The weathering steel roof structure serves as a unified design language that shapes both the indoor and outdoor spaces. Indoors, the form of the roof is not driven by visual appeal but rather seeks potential equipment space within the triangular cavity between the new structure and the original canopy. Outdoors, as the roof folds and gradually descends, it directs people's gaze towards the distant landscape. The red terrazzo floor resembles a floating raft, serving as a platform for activities. The entrance to the interior is deliberately hidden within the "forest".
Below the roof lies a relative nature, while above is the original scenery, with glimpses of each other through openings in the roof, establishing connections of each. We believe that the concept of " construction with the natural way " is about returning to the real, basic, and unpretentious way of building, where construction is not confined by aesthetic considerations but determined by a combination of factors such as construction conditions, engineering costs, structural forces, and material properties. This value orientation is reflected in various aspects of the design, such as the different approaches to steel columns and steel plates indoors and outdoors.
Outdoors, we chose 50*100mm I-beams as load-bearing columns, with the narrow side facing the main sightline from indoor. This special shape adds more light and shadow details to the columns, making the structure appear lighter and enhancing the feeling of the roof floating. The steel beam section also corresponds to the "I" shape, with the flanges supporting 2mm thick steel plates fixed by spot welding. Instead of using 6mm thick steel plates fully welded under the beams to conceal the upper beams and create a smooth illusion when viewed from the bottom (a common practice in many projects), we opted for a cost-effective approach to avoid doubling the construction costs.
Indoors, we chose 100*100mm square steel sections as load-bearing columns to accommodate the installation requirements of door hardware, resulting in rectangular steel beam sections. Due to the original steel structure of the canopy located above the new structure, which was not removed and enclosed with glass, the construction conditions were challenging. This required the steel plates to be lifted and spot welded from bottom to top, with full welding used only in areas of high stress to enhance the overall stability of the structure. The answers to construction come from the specific problems at hand.
As you stroll through this sheltered place, artificial and natural elements intertwine, blurring the boundaries between them. The outward-extending array of steel structures is a result of human rational control. The trees present on the site disrupt the orderly grid of human intervention, providing the building with a more engaging posture. Gaps are left in the roof steel plates where tree branches appear, prompting corresponding changes and reinforcements in the structure. Branches extend beyond the roof, allowing glimpses of swaying foliage through openings. Light changes throughout the day, and the leaves vary with the seasons. Some rainwater falls through the openings, while more is intentionally directed into planting troughs on either side of the pathway for watering the grasses planted there.
All of these elements transform the initially rigid building into something organic and live. The artificial structures of the building coexist harmoniously with nature, revitalizing each other. We have reason to believe that the Coffee Shed of Luxun Park offers an opportunity to deepen the relationship between human and nature. Just as Mies van der Rohe said, “We should attempt to bring nature, houses, and human beings together in a higher unity”.
