Dazhou Atelier and Its Surrounding Area Renovation | SpActrum

This project is a pivotal part of the Chaichanglong Historic Area Organic Regeneration initiative in the old city of Shaoxing. The site comprises a collection of structures built by local people over various periods before the notion of planning came into being. Over time, these structures have decayed and become dilapidated, leaving behind remnants and scattered brick debris that form the existing site conditions. 

SpActrum has studied the site's historical transitions, and converted these originally private properties into a public destination. The interplay between architecture and landscape, interior and exterior is continuously redefined, exploring the site's continuity in space and time beyond the boundary of individual building. Ultimately, these structures transcend the conventional definition of architecture, evolving into venues for events.

Initiated in 2018, the Chaichanglong Historic Area Urban Regeneration marks Shaoxing's first organic renewal project in the city center. Steered by chief architect Yan Pan, SpActrum explored the continuity of architecture in both temporal and spatial dimensions. The team considered both ordinary buildings and heritage buildings within the site as integral, organic parts of the past, which have continuously shaped the site’s unique features and value. In addition to temporal continuity, the site exhibits spatial continuity beyond individual buildings. The buildings within the site, having undergone functional transformations, property ownership changes, weathering, or reconstruction, have evolved repeatedly, breaking the fixed relationship between architectural program and its spatial enclosure. In this way, these buildings have become interconnected and merged with each other, blurring boundaries and integrating into the site, even forming a continuous carpet-like "terrain", where the boundaries of individual buildings no longer exist. This "terrain" formed by the land, buildings, and their derivatives offers a hybrid "matrix" for new constructions. The Dazhou Atelier, located in the northeast corner of this "terrain" and near Hechangtang Road, serves as the gateway to the comprehensive Chaichanglong renovation project. 

In the north of the site stands a three-storey apartment block from the 1970s. On the east lies a large factory building with only the purlins remaining at the top, and an ancillary dormitory building opposite it. Between them, a small two-storey building stands to the north, while the factory building extends parallel from the south, together enclosing a courtyard littered with debris, including a buried staircase leading to the factory building's second floor. 

The site comprises diverse architectural remnants, from private residences, apartments to industrial structures, reflecting a range of styles and requiring a renovation philosophy that retains the site’s memories. The renovation fosters the connections with the immediate surroundings within the site and the external context both in time and space. The western wall of the factory building has been preserved, and the courtyard is redefined with a modern steel and glass facade. The roof's original framework is retained, with purlins transforming into seating steps, allowing natural light to penetrate and maintain the building's original character.

Thus, with minimal intervention, the architect created an aerial platform that overlooks and connects with the Chaichanglong and Tashan historical areas. This platform acts as a new urban public space, a plaza, or an urban terrace, and is the northern entry point for an aerial corridor system. Steps inside lead to this walkway, and the interior functions as a flexible exhibition space for cultural activities, with steel walls like bookshelves blending industrial and cultural aesthetics.

The apartment building, situated on the northwest side of the courtyard, was demolished due to its obstruction of the entire site's access and visual connection, as well as the difficulty in structural restoration. On its footprint, a glass entrance hall has been constructed. The small two-story structure at the north of the courtyard is preserved, and the auxiliary dormitory building opposite the courtyard is integrated under the L-shaped steel roof of the newly built glass entrance hall. This roof, folding like an L-shaped ruler, creates a terrace through innovative rooftop cuts, offering a performance stage opposite the stepped roof.

The small pitched-roof house on the southwest side of the courtyard, lacking historical charm, has its walls retained and roof removed. Embraced by the L-shaped roof, it becomes a semi-open "secret garden" that preserves traces of past domestic life. Its north gable wall extends into the glass house, becoming the new building's southern facade. The south and west walls preserve the full spectrum of life's marks, including the vertical traces of demolished interior walls, weathered doors and windows, and the original interior tiles, all of which faithfully document the spatial configuration and life imprints of the former residential structure. The original interior now transforms into a vibrant open-air garden, with old wooden planks used for stepping, indicating the trace of dead trees.

In this way, the courtyard embodies life and death, flourishing and decay. It presents a unique landscape forged not by aesthetics but by the physical and material properties that define it. The architect's role was merely to authentically reveal this reality, creating a meaningful landscape that is genuinely presented. 

As internal spaces interweave and the notion of individual building fades, the site integrates into the broader spatial-temporal context of its surroundings. It is connected to the Stellar Isle on the other side via a sky corridor on the southern side of the roof. In this area, which has been the center of the old city of Shaoxing for over a thousand years, the architectural intervention either inverts traditional concepts of interior and exterior, or integrates buildings from various periods and styles under one roof, or innovatively transforms the roof into an urban plaza. It reveals the construction techniques of different eras, breaking boundaries between individual buildings and merging them into a habitable venue. Thus, with minimal alteration, buildings from various eras blend into an archive that can be reviewed at any time. This project intentionally transcends the continuity of time and space contexts of individual buildings, transforming it into a tangible sensory journey for people.

[CHI]

大周画室：空中广场与秘密花园

绍兴的柴场弄大周画室及其周边区域改造项目是绍兴柴场弄城市有机更新的重要组成部分, 原场地汇聚着毫无“规划”痕迹的自发建造的建筑集群，他们经历了岁月变迁，经历破败、碎裂，这些遗存和散落在周边地面的碎砖一起，构成SpActrum谱观实践的场地。建筑师体察和学习了场地变迁发生的方式，以这些习来的方式和对于未来使用的想象力将这个原本属于私属空间的片区重新组织成为公共空间。在这时，建筑与景观、室内与室外的关系被不断打破重组，探索着场地跨越单体的时空连续性，以及所有建筑最终摆脱建筑的定义，而成为事件之场地。

绍兴柴场弄改造是始于2018年的绍兴市中心首个以有机更新为理念进行改造的片区。建筑师团队在主创建筑师潘岩的带领下以既有街区改造为契机，探索了建筑在时间与空间两方面的连续性。“普通建筑”和“文保建筑”都视为场地不可分割的有机组成部分，时间积累的连续性展现出场地独特的价值。除了时间上的连续性，场地同时具有超越单体建筑的空间上的连续性。建筑，历经功能转换、产权变更、或者风化、改建，屡屡带来的形式更迭，使建筑功能定义不再具有与空间围合具有稳定的咬合关系。如是这般，建筑间仿佛生长出菌丝，互相交联、融合，边界变得模糊，共同融合为场地，甚至连绵相接成为如毯的“地形”，单体建筑的疆界不复存在了，这新的由大地和建筑及其衍生物共同组成的“地形”为新的建筑提供了定义含混的“基地”。柴场弄大周画室片区正处于这片连绵场地的东北角，近邻和畅堂路，因此成为整个改造的门户地带。

片区北侧是一栋7、80年代的条状的三层公寓。再向东是一排顶部已经仅剩檩条的大厂房和配套宿舍楼，它们之间有一座小小的二层楼挡在北面，和南侧并排过来的厂房一起围成一个院子。院子里到处是瓦砾，甚至楼梯也埋没在这些瓦砾间，顺着这台阶可以一直走上厂房的二层。

这个片区内包含原私人院落住宅、老公寓、原工业建筑等各种不同性质，不同结构特点带来的不同视觉风格的建筑遗存，因而对其改造就成为了上述理念的缩影。在改造中，进一步建立了与场地内周边以及场地外的时空联系。原大周画室厂房建筑保留了西侧围墙，梳理内院后向内以钢铁、玻璃组合的当代立面向庭院延展。屋顶保留了原建筑构架的基本形式，将檩条延展为屋顶可坐的踏步，在室内，踏步间天光直露下来，保持着原建筑的触感。

这样，建筑师以最小的改动，产生了俯瞰和连接整个柴场弄和周边塔山历史区域的空中平台。这是一个空中的城市公共空间、一个广场，或者说城市阳台。这个平台同时是整个柴场弄区块空中走廊的北侧起点，在建筑南侧，通过台阶可以穿堂过室走 

院子西侧北端的公寓楼由于对整个场地进入方式和视线的阻碍，加上结构难以修复，遂予以拆除。在拆除后的空地上建起了玻璃的入口大厅。小院北端的小房子被保留下来，院子对面的辅助用房被吸纳在新建的场地入口玻璃大厅的L型钢制屋顶下。这片屋顶像曲尺一样折叠，并借助顶面的切割，在屋顶上后退出空间，成为阶梯屋顶对面表演的舞台。

院外西侧南面的坡屋顶小房子年代不久远，形态稍许无趣。它被L形曲尺般的屋顶环抱，它的墙壁被保留下来，屋顶被拆除，成为了记录生活史的半开放的“秘密花园”。它的北山墙插入玻璃房子、成为新建筑的南侧墙壁，模糊了建筑之间的界限。它南侧和西侧墙保留了全部生活痕迹，内墙拆除的竖向印记、斑驳的门窗、原房屋内侧的瓷砖，忠实记录了原住宅建筑的空间分配以及生活模印。现在，曾经的室内空间转化为生长着生机勃勃的植物的花园，地面铺装着老旧木料的板材，权作踏步--它们是逝去的树木。

这样，这个小院有生有死，看得见繁盛，见得到凋亡。它展现这一种独特的景观，被非美学的驱动力创造，由物理的、材料的特性所定义，建筑师做的只是将它真实的展现在眼前，这便是具有意义的景观。

随着内部空间的交融，单体意识的消亡，在更大的层面上，这个片区和场地周边更广阔的时空融为一体，并通过屋顶南侧的空中天廊连接到场地另一侧的星屿。这片土地千年以来就是越城的中心，这个片区或是内外翻转、或将不同时期，不同样貌的建筑纳入同一片屋顶，或是将屋顶化身为城市广场。它们袒露着所属时代的建造工艺，在一个个体间界限融合，所有建筑作为一种可栖居的场地上，以这样的方式，各个时代建筑混合成为可以随时翻阅的时间切片。在同一时刻，大周画室片区着意的超越单体的时间与空间的连续性具象的落入人们的感官。

Chief Architect: Yan Pan

Architecture Design Team: Zhen Li, Yimeng Tang, Ying Li, Hao Chen, Xianglong Meng, ShAil Paragkum Patel, Gregorio Soravito, Jinyu Wan

Structural Design: China International Engineering Design & Consult Co., Ltd.

Lighting Design: AT. AART Design

Landscape Design: PHOOO Design

Photographers: Su Shengliang, ZhuDi@SHADØOPLAY, Jinyu Wan