THE GRAND CANAL Experience Center: a landscape painting

The project is located in Hanjiang District, Yangzhou, China. The site adjoins the junction of Yunhe North Road and the Grand Canal. The section of the Grand Canal on its south side is a rare east-west water system in the city, with a width of 80 meters. By making use of the 600-meter-long canal landscape belt and the homecoming route with a length of 400 meters, the design team conceived a waterfront living scene within 1 kilometer, which looks like a landscape painting that gradually unfolds at the waterside.
The design gives full consideration to local context and site conditions. Inspired by the unique classical garden creation techniques in Yangzhou, the master plan design conceives 5 poetic spaces, including gateway, courtyard, hall, waterscape and the canal, which are smoothly linked by the circulation. The goal is to create varying and intriguing visual experiences by subtle treatment of the relationship between each space and the architecture.
The building unfolds towards the Grand Canal, and dialogues with waterscape. The facade features distinct wavy forms at different heights by taking design cues from the rolling waves of the Grand Canal. The wavy structures interweave with glazing, showing the fusion of the real and virtual and closely integrating the building with the site.
The main facade is composed of aluminum grilles. The repeated vertical lines depict the image of tiles-covered pitched roof of traditional architecture in Southern China. As the most important symbol of the building, curves are continuously applied to the overall design. The lighting highlights the architectural features as much as possible and creates a strong sense of rhythm. As night falls and lights turn on, the building takes on a new appearance different from that in the daytime.
Nearly 12 meters high, the metal-grill curtain wall of the facade was a major challenge and difficulty of the design. It was essential to work out how to ensure the metal rods appear upright yet neat. The metal rods were categorized and made as regular as possible through modular design approaches. For installation, tubes were utilized to fix the rods, hence reducing the use of beams behind the grille for fixing purposes and ensuring lightweight and transparent visual effects. It's worth mentioning that the design also draws on the time-horned engraved block printing craftsmanship of Yangzhou, as engraved elements are added to the ends of metal rods, hence enriching surprising details of the building.