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Architects: Archipoetry Studio
- Area: 807 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Jianbo Ke
Text description provided by the architects. Flop is a renovation project of an old factory. It is located in an old industrial zone on Jugong Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou. There are some industrial factories that remain around it, and a high-tech industrial park and creative pioneer center are constantly built.
Flop's original building is a steel factory made of colored composite steel with decayed and damaged facades, but the structural framework is intact. We hope that the old building can be recycled rather than completely demolished. We strengthened the original structure and removed the old composite steel wall and roof which had been seriously decayed. The volume and height of the renovated building will be the same as the original. Due to the multi-demand of photo shooting, we added an additional two mezzanines to the existing double-height factory building. Both the existing and original structures supported loads independently.
In terms of spatial quality, there is a large area of empty space on the first floor, retaining only the spaces required for human circulation, entrances, and exits. The second floor is added according to the functional requirements of the photography space. A small device is placed on the second floor to divide the space. The roof uses solar panels to introduce indoor lighting, and the walls use aluminum alloy metal to reflect the original architecture.
We made use of the added two-story structure and combined it with the double-height space. The column structure on the ground floor and the beam structure on the second floor are surrounded by chairs, which form a resting space facing inward. This arrangement also forms an eye connection with the second floor.
The selection of facade materials corresponds to the original style of the old building. Likewise, aluminum alloy roofs are more durable, and are mostly used for walls and roofs. Glass is much simpler without a frame. We hope to simply highlight the materiality of the aluminum alloy.
Through the change of architectural materials, we respond to the requirement of commercial photography space with different textures. During construction, the damp walls naturally fell down and formed a special peeling effect. This peeling effect revealed the original building materials beneath, and we kept this wall effect that was created by accident.