01/ Origin
Shijiazhuang has been an important transportation hub since ancient times. Over the past 100 years, it has developed from a train station into a key city in Northern China and the capital of Hebei Province, and has witnessed the growth of population from 532 to more than 10 million.
Designed by Beijing De Fang Yuan
Photographed by Qiwen Photography
02/ Evolve
Design firm Beijing De Fang Yuan was commissioned to conceive the interior decoration and furnishings of Shijiazhuang CBD planning exhibition center, which is a two-floor space with a height of about 16 meters and an construction area of 4, 231 square meters or so. The designers extracted the city's 100-year history and applied artistic approaches to decorate the space, hoping to evoke interaction between visitors and the city while injecting new vitality into local culture.
The Shijiazhuang CBD Planning Exhibition Center is situated at the northeast side of the intersection of Zhongshan Road and Gongli Street, adjacent to the century-old Zhengtai Restaurant. As the gateway and an iconic building in the CBD, the exhibition center is a multifunctional space that serves for a variety of activities such as cultural exhibition, working, meeting, leisure and investment-related services.
As conceiving interior decoration solutions, Beijing De Fang Yuan identified "All the way up" as the design theme.
03/ Reborn
Taking "past-present-future" as the storyline, the exhibition center is a window that showcases the future planning of the city. The design emphasizes experience and interaction. It combines art, technology and light to create a space that harmonizes with the city and people whilst showing fusion of the new and old.
As stepping into the space, visitors would firstly attracted by a sundial sculpture, which symbolizes the endless cycle of time. The sculpture and the outdoor old railway station combine into a view, which seems to tell the present and past.
Dominated by beige tone, the hall is expansive and bright. The steps echo the slanting grid ceiling, and lead to a time journey.
The human figure sculptures that look ahead as well as blue balloon art installations at staggering heights imply that the CBD will take the city all the way up to embrace great changes and development.
04/ Beyond
The library area doesn't merely serve for reading. Steps, acrylic chairs, tables, reading desks and other furnishings result in a space where people can not only read books but also sit together to socialize and chat.
With a ceiling of 16 meters high, the library also provides a perfect venue for reading sharing activities and thematic forums, which will bring more possibilities and activate the space.
The full-height dark book shelf is magnificent, generating a cultural ambience. It's a good place for citizens to look back to the past and enlighten future.
Behind the book bar is the Shijiazhuang history gallery, which also functions as a multimedia hall and a high-tech experiential hall.
05/ Light
A staircase leads to the second floor. Light is everywhere. The staircase well, negotiation area and exhibition hall are all depicted by light.
The design fully echoes the theme of "All the way up".
Every beam of light blending into the interior space is like a "guide". As light, architecture and space integrate, brilliant scenes are generated, which indicate the diversified expectations of the future city.
Slightly slanting and asymmetric interior structures are complemented by the silhouette of light. Besides, light penetrates the glass-brick facade, and produce varying interplay of light and shadows, seeming to tell the history of the city.
With a length of 8 meters, the long bar counter connect the planning model display area and reading & negotiation zone. The whole second floor is dominated by beige and light gray hues, which make the space clean and elegant and generate a serene, calming atmosphere.
The dappled sunlight and the long starry light fixture hung above the bar counter add unexpected changes to the space that is full of order and tranquility.
Summary
We call the force that drives the city to move forward as "City Light".
With the growth and transformation of Shijiazhuang City, design plays an important role. It will support the regeneration of old quarters, reconnect them with urban facilities, incorporate modern lifestyles, extend diversified creative industries, and finally inject endogenous impetus to urban renewal and help to write a new chapter of the future.
Shijiazhuang CBD Planning Exhibition Center is a tribute to the past of Shijiazhuang, and will open up the future of the city.
