the HAHN HOUSE 地 标 | Jasmine Ben Ali

This project was born while my internship in China, as my personal part of design  in a teamwork for an architectural contest.

It is a tall and slender building  connected to earth by a walk bridge promenade.

Program is a Boat house and a research center for the new base of UWC International College based in China in the city of Changshu, directly over the lake.

The aim of this design is to enjoy the seawiew and give to the campus a totem landmark so to be recognised and seeing from the lake.

Basement of this design take as his reference the two icons of Chinese Culture : The Asian Junk Boat and the Pagoda.

Its front view is reminiscent a pagoda roof  while its side view resembles a sailing of the traditional Asian Junks.

It can be considered a tower , with a structural heart of concrete, which contains the lift and the main services . All other areas are defined by glass sliding opening walls, enclosed in a mesh net that unifies the facade and create the impression of a sail.

Arriving visitors find a covered terrace on the lake which gives the opportunity to move up to a viewdeck.

Downstairs at the water level, there is a dock , united with two small atelier to work on the boats.

The choice to place the building directly on the water has been possible using a little branch of the existing deltas, completely hidden from the building, which allows solid foundations.

The client was really pleased to recognize inside this architecture two of major Chinese Icons revisited together into something that "reminded both".