Kangju Community Center

Kushan, China

Site Plan

Drawing © Pu Miao

First Floor Plan

Drawing © Pu Miao

Middle part of south elevation

Photo © Pu Miao

南立面局部及一层的半开敞公共空间

Photo © Pu Miao

One of the courtyards behind the bridge between building volumes

Photo © Pu Miao

Southeast corner of the building near the half-circle pond in the park

Photo © Pu Miao

Part of north elevation

Photo © Pu Miao

One of the roof decks with a planted roof in distance

Photo © Pu Miao

Vertical spatial penetration up to three story high

Photo © Pu Miao

One of the corner space for a small group and the window seats on the second floor.

Photo © Pu Miao

Architects: Pu Miao

Location: Qianjin Road at Sichang Road, Kushan, China
Year: 2006
Client: Kunshan City Construction Investment and Development Co. Ltd.
Team: Pu Miao
Engineering: Shanghai Landscape Architecture Design Institute

With modern buildings increasingly being designed as one large and centralized mass, this design revisited the decentralized model. Catering for senior residents living in the apartments around the park, the community center has a porous exterior appearance which resembles a forest that attracts people to enter. The building plan has many boundaries and corners to create many territories for small groups of users who come here to play cards and chess. The overall spatial structure juxtaposes rooms and courtyards/roof decks, which not only generate an intimate relationship between the indoor space and the nature (a characteristic of traditional Chinese architecture), but also produces “suspenseful” views within the building. The scheme reflects most people’s desire for a “refuge” with a “prospect” in a public space. This experiment is part of the author’s effort to localize Modern Architecture.

Publication
Journal Domus (Italy, Chinese Edition, 4/2008) and book Architecture 07' 06' 05': Works from the Forum on Chinese Contemporary Architecture (2006), Atlas of Contemporary Chinese Architecture (2014)