Atelier Deshaus
This busy firm embeds traditional principles of Chinese architecture in the DNA of its modern buildings.
Plot 6 of Jishan Base
Shangai, China
The client for this suburban office park requested it be built in a 'new Chinese style' that offered a modern story about traditional China. Many architecture firms would have responded by incorporating in their design familiar Chinese patterns of brickwork, windows, and other such elements. But Atelier Deshaus focused instead on creating traditional spaces. These include interior courtyards, dense lower floors, and open upper floors that provide multiple views of the hilly landscape surrounding the software park in Nanjing. Whitewashed walls reflect light into the courtyards and between buildings, while shelflike wooden screens in front of glass curtain walls create a decidedly modern take on traditional Chinese wooden architecture.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Plot 6 of Jishan Base
Shangai, China
The client for this suburban office park requested it be built in a 'new Chinese style' that offered a modern story about traditional China. Many architecture firms would have responded by incorporating in their design familiar Chinese patterns of brickwork, windows, and other such elements. But Atelier Deshaus focused instead on creating traditional spaces. These include interior courtyards, dense lower floors, and open upper floors that provide multiple views of the hilly landscape surrounding the software park in Nanjing. Whitewashed walls reflect light into the courtyards and between buildings, while shelflike wooden screens in front of glass curtain walls create a decidedly modern take on traditional Chinese wooden architecture.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Plot 6 of Jishan Base
Shangai, China
The client for this suburban office park requested it be built in a 'new Chinese style' that offered a modern story about traditional China. Many architecture firms would have responded by incorporating in their design familiar Chinese patterns of brickwork, windows, and other such elements. But Atelier Deshaus focused instead on creating traditional spaces. These include interior courtyards, dense lower floors, and open upper floors that provide multiple views of the hilly landscape surrounding the software park in Nanjing. Whitewashed walls reflect light into the courtyards and between buildings, while shelflike wooden screens in front of glass curtain walls create a decidedly modern take on traditional Chinese wooden architecture.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Plot 6 of Jishan Base
Shangai, China
The client for this suburban office park requested it be built in a 'new Chinese style' that offered a modern story about traditional China. Many architecture firms would have responded by incorporating in their design familiar Chinese patterns of brickwork, windows, and other such elements. But Atelier Deshaus focused instead on creating traditional spaces. These include interior courtyards, dense lower floors, and open upper floors that provide multiple views of the hilly landscape surrounding the software park in Nanjing. Whitewashed walls reflect light into the courtyards and between buildings, while shelflike wooden screens in front of glass curtain walls create a decidedly modern take on traditional Chinese wooden architecture.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Plot 6 of Jishan Base
Shangai, China
The client for this suburban office park requested it be built in a 'new Chinese style' that offered a modern story about traditional China. Many architecture firms would have responded by incorporating in their design familiar Chinese patterns of brickwork, windows, and other such elements. But Atelier Deshaus focused instead on creating traditional spaces. These include interior courtyards, dense lower floors, and open upper floors that provide multiple views of the hilly landscape surrounding the software park in Nanjing. Whitewashed walls reflect light into the courtyards and between buildings, while shelflike wooden screens in front of glass curtain walls create a decidedly modern take on traditional Chinese wooden architecture.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Plot 6 of Jishan Base
Shangai, China
The client for this suburban office park requested it be built in a 'new Chinese style' that offered a modern story about traditional China. Many architecture firms would have responded by incorporating in their design familiar Chinese patterns of brickwork, windows, and other such elements. But Atelier Deshaus focused instead on creating traditional spaces. These include interior courtyards, dense lower floors, and open upper floors that provide multiple views of the hilly landscape surrounding the software park in Nanjing. Whitewashed walls reflect light into the courtyards and between buildings, while shelflike wooden screens in front of glass curtain walls create a decidedly modern take on traditional Chinese wooden architecture.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
E Hotel in Xixi Wetland Art Village
Shangai, China
With this hotel in the middle of a wetland park, Atelier Deshaus wanted to minimize the project's impact on the site. So the firm developed a plan that evokes a cluster of cells or a group of bubbles. The arrangement not only allows rooms to meander around existing trees, but also suggests the natural growth of traditional Chinese settlements. Unlike the typical Chinese home that faces in one direction, these polygonal units are multidirectional and allow many views to the wetlands. Corrugated, perforated aluminum facades manage the light in the rooms and give the exteriors a certain ambiguity as they change in different weather conditions.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
E Hotel in Xixi Wetland Art Village
Shangai, China
With this hotel in the middle of a wetland park, Atelier Deshaus wanted to minimize the project's impact on the site. So the firm developed a plan that evokes a cluster of cells or a group of bubbles. The arrangement not only allows rooms to meander around existing trees, but also suggests the natural growth of traditional Chinese settlements. Unlike the typical Chinese home that faces in one direction, these polygonal units are multidirectional and allow many views to the wetlands. Corrugated, perforated aluminum facades manage the light in the rooms and give the exteriors a certain ambiguity as they change in different weather conditions.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
E Hotel in Xixi Wetland Art Village
Shangai, China
With this hotel in the middle of a wetland park, Atelier Deshaus wanted to minimize the project's impact on the site. So the firm developed a plan that evokes a cluster of cells or a group of bubbles. The arrangement not only allows rooms to meander around existing trees, but also suggests the natural growth of traditional Chinese settlements. Unlike the typical Chinese home that faces in one direction, these polygonal units are multidirectional and allow many views to the wetlands. Corrugated, perforated aluminum facades manage the light in the rooms and give the exteriors a certain ambiguity as they change in different weather conditions.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Spiral Gallery, Jiading
Shangai, China
Like a Richard Serra sculpture, the building has a simple exterior hiding a complex interior and a form that unfolds as the viewer moves through it. To extend the visitor's experience at this small gallery, Atelier Deshaus used a spiral plan. Visitors can simply walk into the gallery at a ground-floor entrance, if they want. But for the full experience, they need to walk up a set of winding stairs with high concrete walls framing the sky. On the roof they can enjoy views of the surrounding park, then head down to a courtyard and back into the gallery. The curved path continues within the gallery space, whose walls are lit by a glass enclosure softened by an aluminum screen.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Spiral Gallery, Jiading
Shangai, China
Like a Richard Serra sculpture, the building has a simple exterior hiding a complex interior and a form that unfolds as the viewer moves through it. To extend the visitor's experience at this small gallery, Atelier Deshaus used a spiral plan. Visitors can simply walk into the gallery at a ground-floor entrance, if they want. But for the full experience, they need to walk up a set of winding stairs with high concrete walls framing the sky. On the roof they can enjoy views of the surrounding park, then head down to a courtyard and back into the gallery. The curved path continues within the gallery space, whose walls are lit by a glass enclosure softened by an aluminum screen.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Spiral Gallery, Jiading
Shangai, China
Like a Richard Serra sculpture, the building has a simple exterior hiding a complex interior and a form that unfolds as the viewer moves through it. To extend the visitor's experience at this small gallery, Atelier Deshaus used a spiral plan. Visitors can simply walk into the gallery at a ground-floor entrance, if they want. But for the full experience, they need to walk up a set of winding stairs with high concrete walls framing the sky. On the roof they can enjoy views of the surrounding park, then head down to a courtyard and back into the gallery. The curved path continues within the gallery space, whose walls are lit by a glass enclosure softened by an aluminum screen.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Spiral Gallery
Shangai, China
Like a Richard Serra sculpture, the building has a simple exterior hiding a complex interior and a form that unfolds as the viewer moves through it. To extend the visitor's experience at this small gallery, Atelier Deshaus used a spiral plan. Visitors can simply walk into the gallery at a ground-floor entrance, if they want. But for the full experience, they need to walk up a set of winding stairs with high concrete walls framing the sky. On the roof they can enjoy views of the surrounding park, then head down to a courtyard and back into the gallery. The curved path continues within the gallery space, whose walls are lit by a glass enclosure softened by an aluminum screen.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Spiral Gallery
Shangai, China
Like a Richard Serra sculpture, the building has a simple exterior hiding a complex interior and a form that unfolds as the viewer moves through it. To extend the visitor's experience at this small gallery, Atelier Deshaus used a spiral plan. Visitors can simply walk into the gallery at a ground-floor entrance, if they want. But for the full experience, they need to walk up a set of winding stairs with high concrete walls framing the sky. On the roof they can enjoy views of the surrounding park, then head down to a courtyard and back into the gallery. The curved path continues within the gallery space, whose walls are lit by a glass enclosure softened by an aluminum screen.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Spiral Gallery
Shangai, China
Like a Richard Serra sculpture, the building has a simple exterior hiding a complex interior and a form that unfolds as the viewer moves through it. To extend the visitor's experience at this small gallery, Atelier Deshaus used a spiral plan. Visitors can simply walk into the gallery at a ground-floor entrance, if they want. But for the full experience, they need to walk up a set of winding stairs with high concrete walls framing the sky. On the roof they can enjoy views of the surrounding park, then head down to a courtyard and back into the gallery. The curved path continues within the gallery space, whose walls are lit by a glass enclosure softened by an aluminum screen.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Kindergarten, Jiading
Shangai, China
In the kindergarten, two parallel structures play in opposition to each other. A formidable concrete block encloses the circulation ramps for the school, while a punctured block with perforated aluminum panels, irregularly placed windows, and indoor/outdoor play spaces houses the classrooms. The facades, though, fool expectations'with the closed concrete box hiding a large vertical space, and the open facade masking a tight arrangement of classrooms. A mix of clear- and colored-glass windows brings warm light into the building during the day and produces a rich glow on the exterior at dawn and dusk when parents drop off and pick up their children. The kindergarten sits in a new town outside a historic center, which presented an opportunity to the architects. 'The image of a building in the suburbs is totally different from one downtown,' says partner Liu Yichun. 'We think this offers a chance to find a way to represent our poetic tradition.'
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Kindergarten, Jiading
Shangai, China
In the kindergarten, two parallel structures play in opposition to each other. A formidable concrete block encloses the circulation ramps for the school, while a punctured block with perforated aluminum panels, irregularly placed windows, and indoor/outdoor play spaces houses the classrooms. The facades, though, fool expectations'with the closed concrete box hiding a large vertical space, and the open facade masking a tight arrangement of classrooms. A mix of clear- and colored-glass windows brings warm light into the building during the day and produces a rich glow on the exterior at dawn and dusk when parents drop off and pick up their children. The kindergarten sits in a new town outside a historic center, which presented an opportunity to the architects. 'The image of a building in the suburbs is totally different from one downtown,' says partner Liu Yichun. 'We think this offers a chance to find a way to represent our poetic tradition.'
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Kindergarten, Jiading
Shangai, China
In the kindergarten, two parallel structures play in opposition to each other. A formidable concrete block encloses the circulation ramps for the school, while a punctured block with perforated aluminum panels, irregularly placed windows, and indoor/outdoor play spaces houses the classrooms. The facades, though, fool expectations'with the closed concrete box hiding a large vertical space, and the open facade masking a tight arrangement of classrooms. A mix of clear- and colored-glass windows brings warm light into the building during the day and produces a rich glow on the exterior at dawn and dusk when parents drop off and pick up their children. The kindergarten sits in a new town outside a historic center, which presented an opportunity to the architects. 'The image of a building in the suburbs is totally different from one downtown,' says partner Liu Yichun. 'We think this offers a chance to find a way to represent our poetic tradition.'
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Kindergarten, Jiading
Shangai, China
In the kindergarten, two parallel structures play in opposition to each other. A formidable concrete block encloses the circulation ramps for the school, while a punctured block with perforated aluminum panels, irregularly placed windows, and indoor/outdoor play spaces houses the classrooms. The facades, though, fool expectations'with the closed concrete box hiding a large vertical space, and the open facade masking a tight arrangement of classrooms. A mix of clear- and colored-glass windows brings warm light into the building during the day and produces a rich glow on the exterior at dawn and dusk when parents drop off and pick up their children. The kindergarten sits in a new town outside a historic center, which presented an opportunity to the architects. 'The image of a building in the suburbs is totally different from one downtown,' says partner Liu Yichun. 'We think this offers a chance to find a way to represent our poetic tradition.'
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Kindergarten, Jiading
Shangai, China
In the kindergarten, two parallel structures play in opposition to each other. A formidable concrete block encloses the circulation ramps for the school, while a punctured block with perforated aluminum panels, irregularly placed windows, and indoor/outdoor play spaces houses the classrooms. The facades, though, fool expectations'with the closed concrete box hiding a large vertical space, and the open facade masking a tight arrangement of classrooms. A mix of clear- and colored-glass windows brings warm light into the building during the day and produces a rich glow on the exterior at dawn and dusk when parents drop off and pick up their children. The kindergarten sits in a new town outside a historic center, which presented an opportunity to the architects. 'The image of a building in the suburbs is totally different from one downtown,' says partner Liu Yichun. 'We think this offers a chance to find a way to represent our poetic tradition.'
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Kindergarten, Jiading
Shangai, China
In the kindergarten, two parallel structures play in opposition to each other. A formidable concrete block encloses the circulation ramps for the school, while a punctured block with perforated aluminum panels, irregularly placed windows, and indoor/outdoor play spaces houses the classrooms. The facades, though, fool expectations'with the closed concrete box hiding a large vertical space, and the open facade masking a tight arrangement of classrooms. A mix of clear- and colored-glass windows brings warm light into the building during the day and produces a rich glow on the exterior at dawn and dusk when parents drop off and pick up their children. The kindergarten sits in a new town outside a historic center, which presented an opportunity to the architects. 'The image of a building in the suburbs is totally different from one downtown,' says partner Liu Yichun. 'We think this offers a chance to find a way to represent our poetic tradition.'
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Kindergarten, Jiading
Shangai, China
In the kindergarten, two parallel structures play in opposition to each other. A formidable concrete block encloses the circulation ramps for the school, while a punctured block with perforated aluminum panels, irregularly placed windows, and indoor/outdoor play spaces houses the classrooms. The facades, though, fool expectations'with the closed concrete box hiding a large vertical space, and the open facade masking a tight arrangement of classrooms. A mix of clear- and colored-glass windows brings warm light into the building during the day and produces a rich glow on the exterior at dawn and dusk when parents drop off and pick up their children. The kindergarten sits in a new town outside a historic center, which presented an opportunity to the architects. 'The image of a building in the suburbs is totally different from one downtown,' says partner Liu Yichun. 'We think this offers a chance to find a way to represent our poetic tradition.'
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Office Building for Fuel Gas Station, Jiading
Shangai, China
Surrounded by roads and vacant lots on three sides, the site for this building has just one notable feature: A river that runs along its north side. On its short sides, the building appears as a pair of heavy boxes'one clad in Cor-Ten steel and the other made of raw concrete. But on the long north side, it breaks into a series of smaller boxes, as if responding to the pull of the river. These weathering-steel boxes hold special function rooms and create interior courtyards as they move apart.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Office Building for Fuel Gas Station, Jiading
Shangai, China
Surrounded by roads and vacant lots on three sides, the site for this building has just one notable feature: A river that runs along its north side. On its short sides, the building appears as a pair of heavy boxes'one clad in Cor-Ten steel and the other made of raw concrete. But on the long north side, it breaks into a series of smaller boxes, as if responding to the pull of the river. These weathering-steel boxes hold special function rooms and create interior courtyards as they move apart.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Office Building for Fuel Gas Station, Jiading
Shangai, China
Surrounded by roads and vacant lots on three sides, the site for this building has just one notable feature: A river that runs along its north side. On its short sides, the building appears as a pair of heavy boxes'one clad in Cor-Ten steel and the other made of raw concrete. But on the long north side, it breaks into a series of smaller boxes, as if responding to the pull of the river. These weathering-steel boxes hold special function rooms and create interior courtyards as they move apart.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Office Building for Fuel Gas Station, Jiading
Shangai, China
Surrounded by roads and vacant lots on three sides, the site for this building has just one notable feature: A river that runs along its north side. On its short sides, the building appears as a pair of heavy boxes'one clad in Cor-Ten steel and the other made of raw concrete. But on the long north side, it breaks into a series of smaller boxes, as if responding to the pull of the river. These weathering-steel boxes hold special function rooms and create interior courtyards as they move apart.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Office Building for Fuel Gas Station, Jiading
Shangai, China
Surrounded by roads and vacant lots on three sides, the site for this building has just one notable feature: A river that runs along its north side. On its short sides, the building appears as a pair of heavy boxes'one clad in Cor-Ten steel and the other made of raw concrete. But on the long north side, it breaks into a series of smaller boxes, as if responding to the pull of the river. These weathering-steel boxes hold special function rooms and create interior courtyards as they move apart.
Image courtesy Atelier Deshaus
Office Building for Fuel Gas Station, Jiading
Shangai, China
Surrounded by roads and vacant lots on three sides, the site for this building has just one notable feature: A river that runs along its north side. On its short sides, the building appears as a pair of heavy boxes'one clad in Cor-Ten steel and the other made of raw concrete. But on the long north side, it breaks into a series of smaller boxes, as if responding to the pull of the river. These weathering-steel boxes hold special function rooms and create interior courtyards as they move apart.
Photo © Shu He
Office Building, Qingpu
Shangai, China
The site of this office building was initially designated to be open green space. So instead of designing the building as an intrusion on its surrounding park, Atelier Deshaus wanted the park to intrude on the building. The firm raised the offices one story above the ground and let the park's green space slide underneath them. It also carved out a courtyard in the center of the plan and landscaped it with a reflecting pool. Blurring indoors and out, the architects wrapped the building with a glass screen that blocks noise from a nearby highway and creates a buffer zone that is protected but not totally enclosed.
Photo © Zhang Siye
Office Building, Qingpu
Shangai, China
The site of this office building was initially designated to be open green space. So instead of designing the building as an intrusion on its surrounding park, Atelier Deshaus wanted the park to intrude on the building. The firm raised the offices one story above the ground and let the park's green space slide underneath them. It also carved out a courtyard in the center of the plan and landscaped it with a reflecting pool. Blurring indoors and out, the architects wrapped the building with a glass screen that blocks noise from a nearby highway and creates a buffer zone that is protected but not totally enclosed.
Photo © Zhang Siye
Xiayu Kindergarten, Qingpu
Shangai, China
Fifteen classrooms, dining rooms, and courtyard play spaces nestle together in a long white band that follows the curve of an adjacent river. Fifteen corresponding nap rooms painted in bright colors seem to pop up through the roof of this band. Raised wooden walkways link these rooms in groups of three to create a sort of mini-village on the roof. Xiayu Kindergarten is one of three kindergartens that Atelier Deshaus has designed, and partner Chen Yifeng sees an opportunity in this. 'In China the kindergarten is a special project because education is so important here,' he says. 'We feel that children need the designer to provide a very magical space for them.'
Photo © Zhang Siye
Xiayu Kindergarten, Qingpu
Shangai, China
Fifteen classrooms, dining rooms, and courtyard play spaces nestle together in a long white band that follows the curve of an adjacent river. Fifteen corresponding nap rooms painted in bright colors seem to pop up through the roof of this band. Raised wooden walkways link these rooms in groups of three to create a sort of mini-village on the roof. Xiayu Kindergarten is one of three kindergartens that Atelier Deshaus has designed, and partner Chen Yifeng sees an opportunity in this. 'In China the kindergarten is a special project because education is so important here,' he says. 'We feel that children need the designer to provide a very magical space for them.'
Photo © Zhang Siye
Xiayu Kindergarten, Qingpu
Shangai, China
Fifteen classrooms, dining rooms, and courtyard play spaces nestle together in a long white band that follows the curve of an adjacent river. Fifteen corresponding nap rooms painted in bright colors seem to pop up through the roof of this band. Raised wooden walkways link these rooms in groups of three to create a sort of mini-village on the roof. Xiayu Kindergarten is one of three kindergartens that Atelier Deshaus has designed, and partner Chen Yifeng sees an opportunity in this. 'In China the kindergarten is a special project because education is so important here,' he says. 'We feel that children need the designer to provide a very magical space for them.'
Photo © Zhang Siye
Shanghai, China
In a country where globalization’s impact can be seen almost everywhere, Shanghai-based Atelier Deshaus wants to keep traditions alive. “China has changed very fast,” says partner Liu Yichun. “In many places the traditional poetic culture is becoming just a memory. We want to represent this memory in our architecture.” This doesn’t mean he wants to design pagodas or roofs with old clay tiles. For Liu and his partner Chen Yifeng, architecture isn’t based on form. “It’s based on the relationship between different kinds of space, between the building and the context, and between the building and nature.”
This approach can be seen in Deshaus’s 2005 Xiayu Kindergarten, where spatial relationships follow those of a well-known local model. “In traditional Chinese residential developments there are always two parts,” Liu explains. “One is the housing where there’s a lot of activity. The other is the garden, with small buildings in it.” This mix of high and low densities appears in Xiayu as a cluster of ground-floor classrooms and a more open plan of rooftop nap rooms. In a kindergarten in Jiading, the firm turns that duality 90 degrees; the dense layer and open layer meet in boxes side by side instead of bottom to top.
Deshaus interprets a different spatial model in a house and studio for artist Yue Minjun, currently under construction. “Traditional residences follow a rhythm of building, yard, building, yard,” says Liu. “The structure of the building is like an image of the family: The grandparents live at one end, then the parents, then the children.”
The architects twist the traditional linear form into a complex plan that mimics Yue’s paintings of labyrinths—echoing the pattern of open and enclosed spaces but breaking the hierarchy.
Liu (born in 1969) and Chen (1972) founded Atelier Deshaus in 2001 (with Zhuang Shen, who left the firm in 2009). They adopted the German word Deshaus, because Liu had studied German in college and the term means “of the house.” It also sounds similar to the firm’s Chinese name, Da She, which means “big house.”
Surprisingly, the firm’s most innovative projects have been in the suburbs, in Shanghai’s Qingpu and Jiading districts. The government there, in particular District Mayor Sun Jiwei (who trained as an architect), has given Liu and Chen excellent opportunities. Jiading commissioned the Spiral Art Gallery, a striking concrete-and-aluminum structure that expresses both a 21st-century form and a much older idea of enclosure (seen in its narrow stair to the roof) and exposure (the rooftop itself). “Poets walking in the landscape prized this kind of rhythm—from enclosed to open spaces,” says Liu. Local visitors find familiar places behind Deshaus’s modern facades. But those who read architecture as sets of forms may need to squint to see the Chinese references. “Representing is not just repeating traditional things,” says Liu. “We use a modern way to represent our traditions.”
Atelier Deshaus
LOCATION: Shanghai
FOUNDED: 2001
DESIGN STAFF: 12
PRINCIPALS: Liu Yichun, Chen Yifeng
EDUCATION: Liu – Tongji University, M.Arch., 1997; Tongji University, B.Arch., 1991. Chen – Tongji University, M. Arch., 1998; Tongji University, B.Arch., 1995
WORK HISTORY: Liu – Tongji Architectural Design Institute, 1997–2001; Guangzhou Design Institute, 1991–94. Chen – Tongji Architectural Design Institute, 1998–2001
KEY COMPLETED PROJECTS: Spiral Gallery, Jiading, 2011; Kingdergarten, Jiading, 2009; Plot 6 of Jishan base in Jiangsu Software Park, Nanjing, 2008; Xiayu Kindergarten, Qingpu, 2004
KEY CURRENT PROJECTS: Youth Activity Center, Qingpu, 2012; Studio of Yue Minjun, Jiading, 2012
WEB SITE: www.deshaus.com
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