HeFei Fei River Central Smart Garden Library / GEEDESIGN

Architects: GEEDESIGN
Location: Tangmo Road, Longchuan Road, Hefei, China
Architect In Charge: Di Ye, Hu Xie, Haiting Ye
Design Team: Songfeng Fan, Dan Tang, Yi Pan, Qiulin Chen, Ruohan Xu, Penghui Liu, Cong Liu
Area: 1760.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Shengliang Su

Project Development: Vanke, Cinda, Overseas Chinese Town
Landscape Design: Z+T STUDIO
Interior Design: HORIZONTAL SPACE DESIGN

Text description provided by the architects. This project is located above the development axis of the HeFei Financial Business Central, along the South Fei River. This is an ideal location, giving the project tremendous possibilities for future development. By reconstructing the mixed-use building, we hope to redefine the architecture and landscape, as well as interior design and user interaction, thus reflecting the essence of contemporary cosmopolitan lifestyle.

In the preliminary design phase of HeFei Smart Garden Library, rejuvenation of project peripherals in order to provide an ideal living space was the essential objective. Through rational layout, complex space optimization, the façade presented meets the modern populace’s need for communal space. From this foundation, we placed utmost attention to the project’s spatial design, and achieved maximum estate rejuvenation.

In the initial design of the library, starting from a cube, we created a curved interface as the main structure through reducing and overlapping of the cube using different construction techniques, ingeniously adapting to the surrounding environment, expressing its gentle and unique individuality simultaneously. We are building a floating island, but not a lonely island. The interweaving influence of the city square, the city main road and green landscape (on the library) will bring a different experience for the public.

From a distance, the colour, tone and volume changes with the angles, making the whole building intriguing and flexible. The city square extends out into the core library complex, attracting crowds to partake in activities. The facade facing the water body creates a soft floating cantilever-like reflection, while the façade facing the city highway impresses with it’s steady and spacious feel.

The confluence of black, grey and white accentuates the intense sense of sculpture impression, while the brown embellishments provide warmth. The interspersed glass and flow of water disperses any possible dullness. Water is light and attractive; glass connects the indoor and outdoor spaces, inviting both light and shade, space and time. Regardless of day or night, natural or manmade, the traversing light gives this sculptural building a sense of spatial transparency and dreamlike reality, akin to a floating island within the city.