The commission was challenging, creating a 900m² column-less exhibition hall in a historical building in the historical area of Hunan university. It was a dormitory built in 1930s by the first Chinese modernism architect: Liu Shiying.
The problem for us was not working out a nice way to cope with the delicate context, but should we introduce any thing as large as 900m² here at all? Even if we poor students have no choice but to do whatever the professor asked, can we do it as little invasive as possible?
Although we were supposed to practise what we had learnt about large span structure, we just couldn’t ignore the beauty and the services the dormitory provides us everyday, let along its historical value or what does it mean to the local community. We don’t see practising large span structure as insignificant, however, a design where one can find the truth and the goodness is bigger than that.
