Ice cubes of glass
Cultural Centre in China by Zone of Utopia and Mathieu Forest
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Architecture for (not) melting away: Coming with a design reminiscent of nine stacked ice cubes, the Pingyuan New Area Touristic Center in Xinxiang, China is well suited to the surrounding entertainment district dedicated to winter sports.
In the midst of residential districts, stores and amusement attractions, even an indoor ski slope is to come about at the cultural centre one day – in compensation, so to speak, for a topography that is practically as flat as a board around the six-million-inhabitant city. The building itself already contains a café, a children’s play area and an exhibition and reading room, as well as offices primarily located on the upper storeys.
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The building ingeniously created by Zone of Utopia and Mathieu Forest makes the temperature seem to drop at least five degrees when it is approached. The facade’s outer skin consists of laminated safety glass printed in a motif of ice crystals, while the inner one is executed in ultra white double-pane insulated glazing.
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The filigree suspended structure that supports the external glazing consists of steel, as also applies to the building’s structural skeleton constructed out of steel posts and beams in combination with reinforced concrete slab ceilings.
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The composition of cubes each measuring 17 m high is precisely tailored to the surroundings: the uppermost, boldly cantilevered “ice cube“ in particular catches the eye from the commercial street in the west; below it a 34 m high gap in the composition leads to the main entrance of the building.
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Towards the south, at an artificial lake, the main edifice becomes flatter and is flanked by two standalone glass cubes. The building changes in appearance at night, when lighting in the interior and in the cavity of the double-skin facade makes the ice cubes seem to shimmer from the inside.
Architecture: Zone of Utopia + Mathieu Forest Architecte,
Henan Urban Planning Institute & Corporation
Client: Henan Rongshou Xinchuang Culture and Tourism Real Estate
Location: Pingyuan New Area, Xinxiang, Henan (CN)
Structural engineering: Arup
Facade planning: EDUTH
Landscape architecture: Hassell Shanghai, QIDI Shanghai
Interior design: WU:Z Design
Gallery
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