Interview about Zhengzhou Longhu Conference Center, winner of the A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award 2024
It is a modern style design with white marble-shaped curves as the main decorative shape of the space, inspired by the feathers of the phoenix, an ancient Chinese auspicious bird. The changes of light and shadow add a lot of detail to this pure space. Several brown metal plates balance the overall tone, and a coffee colored transparent glass curtain wall is used on both sides of the middle corridor on the second floor to increase the variation of light and color. There is a 17 meter high atrium with a bird's eye view of the effect of the white marble lines.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsThe phoenix, a divine bird in ancient Chinese mythology, is akin to Aglaea, the goddess in Greek mythology, symbolizing elegance, fortune, and beauty. The most captivating aspect of the phoenix is its posture in flight—free, light, and gracefully dancing with the wind. I sought to capture this moment and make it eternal by using curved white marble lines to portray the form of the phoenix’s fluttering feathers, ultimately assembling them into a grand and emotionally resonant scene.Given the multitude of marble lines, already abundant in form and detail, the use of color needed to be highly restrained. I chose white, representing purity and tranquility. This embodies the essence of Eastern Zen aesthetics: stripping away all excess decoration to create a serene, free, and unencumbered space. At the same time, it exudes a contemporary sense of modernity.
Traditional Chinese culture is the treasure of Oriental culture, containing philosophy and art, and is an important medium and driving force to promote the innovation of interior design. I have read a large number of famous Zen landscape paintings of Tang and Song dynasties, studied the handed down Zen gardens such as Lingyin Temple and Lion Forest, and grasped the essence of Zen aesthetics from the paintings and buildings preserved in ancient times, and then reflected these insights into the design. I believe that traditional culture can provide a continuous source of inspiration for modern design.
If the whole space is white tone, it is undoubtedly risky, because the lack of contrast will appear single, I choose to use coffee-colored glass curtain wall and copper wall on the side of the second floor, it is to break the single tone, increase the level and rhythm of the space. Coffee-colored is actually composed of two materials: transparent glass and copper plate, although the two materials have the same tone, but the texture is completely different. This not only brings rich light and shadow changes, but also does not look cluttered. Meaningful details enhance the overall spatial narrative.
The massive architectural scale indeed posed significant challenges. To ensure the desired outcome, we created 3D models for almost every major scene to refine the proportions and details. After defining the cultural theme, the next challenge was integrating it with modern design concepts to make it accessible and appreciable to people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Striking this balance has been our greatest challenge, and we continuously strive to achieve harmony in every aspect.
1 The section of white marble modeling is an isosceles acute Angle triangle, the long side is 500MM, the short side is 220MM, the spacing is 200MM: The construction process is the internal steel structure, the external marble is fixed on the steel structure by dry hanging, 2 the line shape of the ceiling is the same as the wall, but considering the safety issue, the material is changed to aluminum plate with PVC film of imitation marble texture, because the height is high, so the slight difference between pvc film and marble will not affect the overall effect. 3. All the fire-fighting equipment, sound equipment, lighting equipment, broadcasting equipment and air conditioning equipment on the ceiling are centrally arranged in the 200-wide recess in the middle of each shape. 4 The wall and the ground are provided with a very narrow strip air outlet.
Function has always been the top consideration in the interior design, and attendees take the escalator from the 1st floor lobby to the 3rd floor (the 2nd floor is the office and auxiliary space) to enter the welcome hall. Before entering the conference hall, attendees first enter a stunning white pure space made up of numerous white marble lines. At the same time, you can enjoy the beautiful lake view outside through the huge glass curtain wall, and the natural beauty and modern manufacturing arts present a strong contrast in the same space. Participants can rest, wait, communicate, attend the opening ceremony or accept media interviews in the hall at the same time, and then enter the conference hall through the wide corridor in the middle of the hall.
You are quite right that if the whole space has only one white tone, it will look boring, if there are more than 3 colors, it will lose the sense of purity, and we intuitively feel that brown is the best balance color for the conference center. It's elegant, sensible and well-meaning. We worked through numerous sketches and renderings from different angles to determine the positions and proportions of these elements in order to achieve aesthetic harmony.
The owner has a huge review team, each expert's opinion is not uniform, we have to balance everyone's opinion, but also to ensure that the project is unique and beautiful. We spent half a year on this project to design many plans, but we have not been able to get a unified confirmation opinion. We thought that the proposal could not be implemented, but in the end, the architect of the project gave us great support and helped us convince the client to accept it from the perspective of professionals. This is truly appreciated.
The project is still under construction, and we are eagerly anticipating its successful completion and the realization of the envisioned design. The interior design of this project is unique among similar national convention center projects. It combines modern sophistication with cultural heritage, offering more philosophical and aesthetic depth compared to previous designs that were either overly traditional or overly modern. I firmly believe in this.
Receiving this honor signifies that our exploration has been recognized by international professionals, which is a tremendous encouragement and support for me and my team. Objectively speaking, there are not many successful cases of convention centers that integrate traditional elements with modern styles. Through the influential platform of the A’ Design Award, our achievement will undoubtedly inspire peers to create even more outstanding convention center projects.What we most want to achieve is that traditional culture silently influences our lives in a low-key, unobtrusive way. Once again, I sincerely thank the judges for their recognition.
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