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Architects: SpaceStation
- Area: 367 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Weiqi Jin
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Manufacturers: Shaoxing Wandao Textile Co.
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Lead Architects: Zheng Wang,Ling Li
Ramp Space-Po is a multi-functional space integrating areas for exhibitions, pop-up activities, offices for personal use, and retail space.
Our patron envisioned a soothing space that could foster a sense of relaxation and freedom, a stress-free site for designers, artists and the wider public to mingle and display their works without hindrance.
We maintained the original 9-meter-high ceiling unaltered, while adding a slope on the ground. The slope rises directly on the floor, interrupting the original balance of stability and solidity offered by the ground. Thanks to the addition of the slope, we discreetly hid office, storage and other service spaces underneath it. We left a narrow fissure on the slope to reveal its actual structure, so that visitors may see that this bulging structure is indeed a board instead what would appear to be a sturdy block of concrete. This gap also serves as a line of connection between the exhibition hall and the backstage. We designed part of the slope as flight of steps, hoping to infuse the building with a vibrant humanistic touch, reminiscent of ancient theaters or lecture halls.
We also adjusted the lighting plan of this space, filtered out scattered light sources from surrounding windows, while introducing skylight instead. Adaptations were made to the ceiling in order to control sound reverberation, the overall purpose being to enable the space to meet different needs for events and exhibitions.
The slope is made of concrete, arguably the most stable and permanent among building materials. The choice of this material can optimally reveal the rhythmic and transformative progression from “ground” to “slope” to a fixed state again.
We chose scaffolding to fashion the shape of a significant section of the hall. Unlike permanent, “reassuring” concrete, scaffolding is the most temporary element in architecture. Scaffolding framework is omnipresent and vitally important in all construction processes, but after the building is completed, it usually “vanishes into thin air”. We believe scaffolding conveys a sense of freedom, making the entire space full of possibilities. Its precarious quality subliminally encourages visitors to play with it, something we look forward to. We think this also echoes customers’ expectations for a free, lively place. The scaffolding also functionally divides the exhibition space into entrances, passages, bars and other spaces, creating a path for ascending and wandering through the exhibition space, just like through a thicket surrounding a hilltop.
