Dongyuan Qianxun Community Center_ 동위안 치앤쉰 커뮤니티센터

빛과 그림자, 시간의 흐름을 충실히 반영한 주민들의 공동체적 복합 공간

공간과 시간이 서로 자극하고 흡수하는 방식을 찾고 인간과 자연, 사회 사이에서 균형 잡히고 역동적인 관계성을 엿볼 수 있어

중국 광둥성의 쑤저우 샹청 주거복합단지 내에 미술관을 닮은 독특한 건물이 들어섰다. 흰색의 화사한 빛을 머금고 있는 건물은 동위안 치앤쉰 커뮤니티센터라고 불리며 주민들의 다양한 교류 활동을 돕고 있다. 지상 2층, 지하 1층 규모로 다이내믹한 공간 구성이 돋보이는 건물은 지역사회 커뮤니티센터, 미술관, 카페, 피트니스센터, 휴게실, 가정교육, 커뮤니티 도서관, 편의점 등 다양한 기능을 포함한다.

커뮤니티센터가 위치한 곳은 후추 웨트랜드 파크와 주거지역이 인접한 코너 대지라는 점에서 무언가 특별한 디자인을 필요로 했다. 대지 주변 역시 타이후 호수와 양쯔강의 남쪽과 연결되고 남쪽 습지대를 에워싸고 강가의 갈대와 나무가 어우러진 절묘한 풍경을 자아낸다. 이러한 양쯔강의 아름다운 주변 풍경을 배경삼아 건축가는 수변 공간 위에 주민들의 다채로운 삶의 모습을 건물에 녹여내고자 했다. 주민들의 공동체적 삶이 자연스럽게 엮어질 수 있도록 물과 바람, 하늘 등의 자연 요소를 공간에 충실히 담고자 한 것이다.

전체적인 공간 구획은 교대로 적층된 전단벽을 수직수평으로 교차 활용하여 구조적 안정성을 취하며 쌓아올렸다. 딥 빔(deep beams)이라고 칭해진 벽 쌓기 시스템은 수직 하중과 수평 강성의 구조적 요구를 충족시키기에 충분했다. 자연스럽게 구획된 벽을 통해 마련된 공간은 사방으로 열리고 닫히는 신선함을 부여한다. 벽 사이에 뚫린 둥글거나 사각의 구멍은 이용자의 보행 통로가 되며 서로 다른 공간을 연결하는 튼실한 장치가 된다. 2층 높이로 길게 올라간 스트립 구조를 따라 남북으로 길게 수직 벽이 형성되고 그 위에 오목한 6개의 셸 지붕이 살포시 덮여있다. 지붕은 알루미늄 마그네슘 패널로 마감되어 있으며, 오목한 지붕에 내리는 빗물은 거터로 모아져 아래로 배출된다. 160mm 두께에 원통형 셸 구조의 스팬은 짧은 방향으로 7.2m, 장 방향으로 12~20m, 높이가 1.3m이다. 흡사 파도치듯 연속된 지붕 아래의 공간은 군데군데 비워져 아래 중정과 수변 공간과 정답게 소통한다. 다양한 내부 프로그램을 채우기 위해 적용한 기본 스팬 모듈은 폭이 7m이다. 60×45m 크기의 건물을 7.2m 폭에 여섯 개의 스트립 구조로 세분화했다. 단순하면서도 효율적인 구조 시스템은 건물의 특별한 공간 질서를 구현하고 있다.

건물의 북측에서 시작해서 남측과 서측으로 길게 이어지는 보행통로는 외부 공간을 더욱 풍성하게 형성해주고 있다. 외부 보행로는 때론 수변 공간과 안뜰, 건물을 가로 질러 펼쳐져 있기도 하고, 남쪽의 버스정류장이나 습지 공원으로 방문객들의 동선을 매끄럽게 유도하는 장치가 된다. 남서쪽 코너에는 주민들이 이용할 수 있는 상점이 있고 북쪽 주거 지역과 인접하여 어린이 놀이방이 자리한다. 수변 공간과 이어지는 연결통로를 따라 마주하는 광장은 서쪽 잔디밭과 면해 있고 동쪽으로는 로비와 접해 있다. 넓게 구획된 로비는 미술 전시는 물론 1층의 지역 사회의 커뮤니티를 도와주는 소셜 커뮤니티센터와 라운지와 결합된 다기능 공간으로 활용된다. 2층은 커뮤니티 도서관과 스튜디오가 마련되어 있고, 남쪽으로는 습지 공원의 경치를 즐길 수 있는 카페가 놓여있다. 중정을 통해 밝고 쾌적하게 조성된 지하층은 피트니스센터와 요가룸 등으로 구성된다.

이처럼 치앤쉰 커뮤니티센터는 주거단지와 연결하여 주민들의 공동체적인 삶의 여유로움을 공간 곳곳에 반영하고 있다. 건축가 주 샤오펑은 건축 속에는 사물의 존재 의미를 철학적 논의를 통해 만들어가고자 하는 건축적 온톨로지(architectural ontology)의 힘을 적절히 반영하고자 했다. 건축가 주 샤오펑은 하버드대학 디자인대학원에서 건축학 석사 학위를 받았으며 심천대학에서 건축 학사 학위를 받았다. 그는 자연과 생활의 기본을 인식하는 방법에서 시닉 아키텍처의 정신이 존재한다고 믿는다. 시닉 아키텍처는 공간과 시간이 서로 자극하고 흡수하는 방식과 인간과 자연, 사회 사이에서 균형 잡히고 역동적인 관계성을 탐구한다. 치앤쉰 커뮤니티센터에는 이러한 건축가의 온톨로지(ontology)와 시닉(Scenic) 개념이 빛과 그림자, 시간의 흐름을 충실히 머금고 공간에 넉넉하게 반영되어 있다.

최정민 ‧ 장현아 기자

Architect_ Zhu, Xiaofeng

자료_ Scenic Architecture,

Photos by Su shengliang, Dongyuan Design

Dongyuan Qianxun community center is in Xiangcheng District of with Huangqiao Town in the north. There are residential lands in the east and the west, and Huqiu Wetland Park right on the southern side of the road. The community center is located in the southeast corner of the land, and is adjacent to two city roads.

Like most residential areas in newly developed cities, Qianxun is still a closed commercial housing community. The current model of residential development in China is a result accumulated over the past 30 years, and it is closely related to the formation of social and economic classes. The new policy of encouraging open community is difficult to subvert this model in a short period of time. In the relatively empty towns, completely open community is even more difficult to achieve due to the identity and security requirements of residents in current social environment. In this condition, it is inevitable to locate the public facilities in the corner of the block. We as architects are not satisfied with such a derived passive choice. Instead, we would like to explore: is it possible to use the ontological strength of architecture to respond and change this negative logic?

Suzhou is a place containing southern Yangtze river culture resources with courtyard life as their carrier; A river in east-west direction wanders in the wetlandpark along the south side of the community, the reeds and trees along the river bring natural flows to the wilderness of this area: these two conditions from humanity and nature constitute the external environment of the project. As a community center at the edge of the compound, this building needs to provide public services for the surrounding communities, including communal affairs, social events, art exhibitions, parent-child activities, sports, convenient store and so on: these public activities constitute the internal demands of the project. We here wish to pursue a specific spatial order, to integrate the internal demands and external environment of the building, so as to become a common carrier of both. We will then be able to create a dynamic community space compatible for both socialness and naturalness, with both cohesion and openness.

The mutual inference between structural system and spatial order is one of the main design methods of Scenic Architecture office recently. After trials of a variety of ideas, we decided to use alternately stacked shear walls to generate the space. Our structural consultant called it a system of "stacking walls as deep beams". It meets the structural needs of vertical loads and horizontal stiffness, while forming a special spatial order: the walls provide enclosure and divide different spaces, and the holes in between walls provide openness and link different spaces — we hope the double potential of this order is capable to help this community center to achieve the coexistence of cohesion and openness.

According to the functional demands of the programs, the basic width modulus of the usable space is around 7m. We ended up a span module of 7.2m to subdivide the building in the size of 60m×45m into six strip structures in the width of 7.2m. These strips were integrated with the stacking wall system according to the internal and external circulations, to organize and generate the inside and outside spaces of the whole building.

The vertical structure of the second floor is mainly composed by north-south gable walls that are freely distributed along the strip structures. They naturally became the starting point of the roof design. With comparison studies we adopted concrete concave shell as the building covering. The span of the 160mm thick cylindrical shell structure is 7.2m in short direction, and 12-20m in long direction with the shell height of 1.3m. The spatial experience under the roof is like segments under waves, with sense of stability under the ridge like the traditional double slope roof; and with sense of outflow under the bottom. The continuous shells create two fused internal experiences, and an external image of waved gable walls, which expressed a relevance of water and traditional architectural style in southern River region.

We designed a main pedestrian passage from north to south on the west side of the building. The residents in the community can take this passage throughout the community center to the bus station or the wetland park in the south. In the southeast corner of the building there is another passage, which is connected with a small retail courtyard on the east side, connected with the main route through a waterscape garden. Along the main route we set up a convenient store on the southwest corner near the city road, and a children’s playroom on the north close to the residential area. The main passage is expanded to a covered public plaza in the central area of the building. The plaza faces the lawn to the west and from here you can enter the lobby to the east. The lobby is a multi-functional space for art exhibitions and other community activities. It is also the hub area to enter other internal spaces: through a sunken courtyard you will find a fitness center in the basement which is connected to the residential parking; on the ground floor the building provides spaces for the management, community affairs, small shops and social space for residents; and on the second floor you can find the community library and studio, in the cafe facing south you will be able to enjoy the view of the wetland park.

In this spatial structure, the alternately arranged solid walls and openings merge the architecture with the nature in their mutual definition, and form a courtyard cluster permeable to each other. A variety of community activities and passages find their own places with the division of courtyards, while they are also connected through the interflow of the spaces.

The detail design of buildings also firmly serves this system. By using cast-in-place reinforced concrete structure and internal insulation, we have then opportunity to bring a rough vertical texture to the exposed stacking shear walls casted by carbonized wood form work with a fixed vertical gap; At the bottom of cast-in-place concave shells we use smooth wooden form work to guarantee the abstract presentation of the exposed concrete ceiling. The roof is covered by aluminum magnesium panels, which enables curved surfaces to fit to the concave shell geometry. The rainwater on concave roof is collected by the gutters on the bottom of shell, and then drained through free fall or collective pipes. All tectonic details follow the integral order of architecture, and the establishment of the order of architecture also relies on all the details.

Tectonic and space are the architectural ontology that architects can mostly count on. In the process of responding to the needs from nature, society and human, we hope to use the strength of architectural ontology to explore new orders. We expect to not only establish a public life space for the community, but also bring flows of light, shadow and time to the place.

Zhu, Xiaofeng / Scenic Architecture Mr. Zhu got his master degree of architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and bachelor degree in Architecture from Shenzhen University. He founded Scenic Architecture Office in Shanghai in 2004. He taught in Tongji University as guest critic since 2012. Scenic Architecture believes that the spirit of architecture exists in how people perceive the basics of nature and living. Architecture of 21st century shall not only respond to human’sneeds, but also act as a positive media between human and environment. We use architecture to explore how space and time stimulate and absorb each other, and how to establish balanced and dynamic relevance among human, nature and society. All of these can only be realized by organizing matters like materiality, technology and form. This is what we define as Architectural Design. With persistent efforts on practice and thoughts, we are on the way to make architecture as a yearning life experience, and a carrier of both material and spirit. The works of Scenic Architecture were widely published by international and local professional media. Mr. Zhu won “40 under 40” award for 40 leading young designers in Asia Perspective in 2008 and he was in the finalist of China Architecture Media Award Young Architect Award. The project Zhujiajiao Museum of Humanities & Arts was the winner of UED Museum Design Award in 2011 and in the finalist of China Architecture Award in 2012. The project Huaxin Exhibition Center won Far Eastern Architectural Design Award Highly Commended Prize, Architizer A+ Award and WAACA WA Technological Innovation Award in 2014.

Location: Xiangcheng District, Suzhou City

Program: community public facility(community affairs center, art gallery, cafe, fitness center, lounge, family education, community library, convenient store)

Building Scope(area): 2238 sqm.(above ground), 1089 sqm.(under ground)

Project team: Zhu Xiaofeng(Design Principal) Zhuang Xinjia(Project Manager) Shi Yin (Senior Designer) Sheng Tai(Field Designer) Du Shigang, LiCheng, FuRong, Luo Qi, Xiao Zaiyuan, Shang Yunpeng

Client: Dongyuan Real Estate CO.

Architectural design: Scenic Architecture Office

LDI: Suzhou Architectural Design & Research Institute Ltd.

Structural Consultant: Zhang Zhun