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The Concept Library is a spiral shell embraced by high grass field, located in rural area of Zhejiang Province, China. It tries to explore the possibility of the fusion between contemporary formal expression and traditional material.
The Concept Library is approximately 10 meters in diameter and 5 meters high. The continuous surface is generated by two semicircles sweeping from one to the other, blurring interior and exterior. The shell is made of red bricks, not by masonry, but all casting in-situ. Sunlight sheds into dim interior through the opening at the top. Visitors can read text inside the acrylic balls through the small holes in the walls. The texts overlays with the landscape, creating a poetic moment to connect body, mind and nature.
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Visitors go down the sandy red soil slope, pass through the high grass, cross the path, and be surrounded by the shell and shadow. The sunlight flows through the stacked bricks from the opening at the top to the ground. There is a faint light coming from the peepholes in the wall. You put your eyes up and see images and words. They float in the outside world as if alive, making ordinary scenes look different. You explore them in turn, until the twenty-fourth. You realize: in order to see fields and rivers, it is not enough to open the windows.
The distribution of bricks on the double-curved surface presents a great challenge to construction. The bricks are positioned by perforated steel plates that work as steel reinforce framework and then filled by high strength concrete. These three materials work together as a total structure. Bricks in 12 different widths are distributed along the UV grid to ensure the radial continuity of the structure.
The shell forms a refreshing construction logic and visual expression, which derives from stacked and interlocking masonry. The pixelated matrix distribution of the brick, the everchanging thickness of 'mortar' subverts the common tectonic of brick construction.
This is a bold attempt at rural construction, integrating digital industrialization with traditional materials. It is also trying to create a transcendent experience beyond mere idyllic expression of 'countryside'. The library is a contemporary shelter for body and mind, encouraging visitors to read and reflect a broader outside and inside.
The concept library is a spatial carrier to jointly launch a co-constructed open book exchange space for the public called "Walking Book House." The aim is to build a bridge between personal spiritual experiences and public art through zero-threshold, borderless reading exchanges. We welcome you to sincerely share your thoughts and insights here, using "books" to construct a public discourse network and co-create a public space for ideas.
HCCH is founded by Hao Chen and Chenchen Hu in Shanghai, 2018. Focusing on multi-disciplinary practice of everyday life, our work covers architecture, interiors, and public art. We try to push the boundary of disipline and norm, by exploring specific, innovative and challenging action, to inspire lasting positive environmental and societal engagement.
Both Hao and Chenchen graduated from Harvard GSD with Master degrees of Architecture in Urban Design and Tongji University with Bachelor degrees of architecture.
