Completion Date:
December 2009

Owner: CR Land

Program: A one-story, 9,688-square-foot sales pavilion for a Hefei condo developer, in which sales spaces—from reception and exhibition to contract signing and administration—are interspersed with themed courtyards featuring bamboo, flowers, water, or camphor trees.

Design concept and solution: Noting the  high volume of construction in Hefei (and the demolition that comes with it), Vector Architects wanted to build a pavilion that would instead highlight rhythms and changes in nature, such as the movements of plants and shifting light patterns. The courtyards and sales spaces fit together in a loose zigzag, connected by a Cor-ten steel wall, with the sales spaces to the north and the courtyards to the south. The north walls of the sales rooms are fiberglass; the south, glass curtain walls that back up onto the courtyards. Each interior is matched with one courtyard, so the light plays upon the interiors in patterns determined by the contents of each yard. Clerestory windows in the north walls bring in further light. The architects chose a minimal palette of materials—bamboo veneer for the ceiling, self-leveling concrete for the floor—to emphasize the light and colors coming in from outside.

Architect:
Vector Architects
Rm 1903 South Tower
SOHO Shangdu, No. 8 Dongdaqiao Road
Chaoyang District
Beijing 100020
Fax: 86-10-58698319