Baoding Tiangong Art Center

Project Profile

1. Project Statement

Baoding Tiangong Art Center is an artistic sanctuary celebrating traditional Chinese arts and craftsmanship. It serves as a cultural and creative hub where top creators, artists, collectors, craftsmen, and students from around the world can come together. The center is dedicated to preserving, promoting, and passing on traditional Chinese arts and crafts.

The design of the Tiangong Art Center seamlessly blends architecture with the landscape, creating a space where art and life intersect. The project uses the site's elongated shape and building design to create an "art skyline" and "art horizon," forming various man-made environments and features. Different levels of open spaces and diverse walking paths connect the historic Dajidian Village with the Baoding Agricultural Ecological Park, creating a series of cultural landmarks. The buildings themselves are crafted with traditional materials and techniques, combined with modern simplicity, to showcase the essence of Chinese culture and craftsmanship.

The Tiangong Art Center is a model of integrating art, culture, and life. It respects traditional culture while leading new trends. The project not only provides local residents with a creative and comfortable living environment but also offers a peaceful and inspiring gathering place for artists and craftsmen. It aims to become a new landmark in Baoding, where people can live surrounded by art, and visitors can explore mini-museums, immersing the city in an endless artistic atmosphere.

2. Design Strategy

1) Cultural and Art Center ("Craftsman Mountains"):

The project is a key cultural facility in Baoding. Various functional spaces are combined under a unique roof structure, forming a "Craftsman Mountain Range" with north and south sides. The steep northern roof slope acts as a barrier against cold winds and serves as a cultural screen for light and video projections during events. The flatter southern slope, combined with shading screens and pillars, creates a man-made forest, providing filtered sunlight and a dreamlike experience. The extended eaves, along with galleries, shops, and restaurants on the first and second floors, naturally enclose a large waterfront plaza. Beneath this "Craftsman Mountain Range," there is a concert hall surrounded by permanent and temporary exhibition spaces, an auction hall, a cultural exchange center, and more. Bridges, escalators, arcades, and alleys connect these functions, offering a rich and holistic experience for users.

2) Arched Artist Studios ("Craftsman Gateways"):

The art center's arches bring water from the eastern canal into the site's landscape, creating a series of unique rainwater gardens. These gardens manage stormwater while providing a natural environment for artists, visitors, and residents. The arches are made from traditional Chinese materials like brick, tile, ceramics, and copper, with different design techniques to allow light to filter through, creating an almost magical atmosphere during the day and night. The studios within the arches are organized vertically, allowing flexible layouts to meet different needs, while separating public exhibition spaces from private creative spaces. Each arch's roof is used for different purposes, such as restaurants, tea houses, exhibition spaces, and terrace gardens, making the site more vibrant and offering various scenic experiences. A crafts school and the Tiangong Creation Experience Center are located in the south plaza, enclosed by two facing arches with underground classrooms and exhibition spaces connected, offering outdoor spaces for teaching and events.

3) Artistic Living Community ("Craftsman Community"):

The art community is located on the south side of the site, enclosed by the art center and arches. Each unit is separated by narrow rainwater gardens and arches, providing spaces to display artworks and temporary installations in a serene setting. The buildings are designed with varying heights, balconies, and atriums to reduce density and enrich the experience, making the space more human-scaled. Each unit's roof features greenhouse gardens and terraces, offering quiet and private spaces for relaxation. The community consists of various types of living spaces, with direct access to each floor from the underground parking.

4) Creative Open Spaces ("Craftsman Landscape"):

Each open space in the Tiangong Art Center has its own distinct character, forming different courtyard centers and groups, making the entire site a walkable cultural complex:

The north plaza is the main arrival point, attracting visitors from the west and providing easy access to the underground parking from the east.

The central waterfront plaza refreshes the overall experience of the building.

The south plaza is suitable for small-scale outdoor events, enhancing the importance of the crafts school and the Tiangong Creation Experience Center.

The existing green space in the southeast extends to the community's greenbelt and connects to the canal park, forming a comfortable and continuous walking corridor.

5) Community Facilities ("Craftsman Amenities"):

The community facilities are mainly located on the south end of the site, including a kindergarten, clinic, community center, and a linear greenbelt garden that connects to the southern road, providing easy access for residents and serving the needs of children and patients. These facilities create comfortable outdoor spaces and green areas within the artistic community.