The project is for the renovation of the Xinjiang Art Center. The main building was originally built in the 1950s. It is a typical Soviet-style classical building with heavy columns and thick exterior walls with stone cladding. This main building totaling about 12,000 square meters is to be kept while the other less weighty buildings are to be demolished for the renovation. The cultural center includes an art museum, a music hall, an art school, a musical instrument exhibit center, a cultural heritage research institute, and offices. 

Our design of the new addition is a fan-shaped building volume, reminiscent of a bird’s wing, also symbolizing the dancing costume motion of typical women. This sculptural building shape descends and retracts as it joins the existing building, to visually maintain the prominence of the existing building when viewed from its front. The volume rises as it goes away from the existing building and becomes more visually striking. This ensures a perfect architectural relationship between the original and the addition.  

We design an open, lightweight, and inviting architectural facade for the addition, using curtainwall and insulated glass for the exterior building envelope, creating an intentional contrast with the existing building. On the interior of the addition, we designed dark wood and silver aluminum to create a futuristic dreamy ambiance. For building sustainability, we design natural ventilation devices for the building to breathe naturally when the season is appropriate, saving energy costs and promoting healthy indoor air exchange. We also designed ways to collect rainwater for reuse inside the building.