Text description provided by the architects. Commercial space plays a crucial role in the Yue art gallery. The original building is a typical factory built in 1980s with an 18 m * 18 m prefabricated roof truss, based on which it needs to rebuilt as a contemporary art gallery. A complete protection for a normal old factory seems not so worthy in this case, however, it deserves to seek more possibilities for its new exhibition function.
A new space form is inserted into the original framework of the factory. In order to maintain and emphasize the integrity of the original surface, the historical wall has nearly no links to the new lining and is protected entirely. Meanwhile, we plugged the homogeneous windows with new brick, which becomes a fresh texture bearing the depth of time. Thus, there is a sharp contrast between the two materials implying a renewed spirit born in the old building, which is also showing the instinct strength in the 798 art area.
In the 12m height space, commercial service space is inserted into the exhibition space for acquiring more exposition areas. These two spaces are connected by the textile-texture surface. Compared to the exhibition space, the commercial service is a reversed space, and vice versa: these are co-existing, mutual-reversed, inter-connected but defining clearly spaces.
The exhibition space not only achieves the most available areas and the field of view but also produces the great richness – the visitors could go through the commercial space and stay in different levels in a total space. A floating space, like the traditional Chinese imagery of mountains and waters, is thus formed in a merely 900 m2 space. Commercial spaces are blend in the exposition system. Through the translucent tube, people could feel an art atmosphere.
