Archive exhibition space design in Architecture School.
Location: XLarch Department of Architecture, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, China.
Surface area: 130 sqm and/in 2.250 sqm.
Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University’s Department of Architecture recently moved into a new building. In its ground floor, a new archive and exhibition space forms with the material library and workshops the entrance to XLarch Department as a place of architectural experimentation.
Located at the entrance level of XLarch Department of Architecture, 'Unit-By-Unit' is a project for managing, archiving and exhibiting architecture students’ work. Aesthetic concept is an ascetic, austere visual language celebrating the Unit, the archival box that generates central, long steel-cabinets which archive student projects.
These steel cabinets, deriving from the archival unit’s dimensions 44.5cm D x 34cm W x 33cm H, store CDs, A4 and A3 folios of studio work, essays and exam papers. They are surrounded by transparent volumes: glass shelves and exhibition double-glass walls.
The glass shelves archive student models. Their depth can accommodate large pieces (80cm - 90cm D) and their height varies for taking in diverse model heights (20cm - 60cm). The spatial organization of both steel cabinets and glass shelves creates a clear, comprehensible order allowing students’ work to be easily archived for a 5-year time frame of RIBA accreditation.
The exterior double-glass walls of the archive space and adjacent workshops, all arranged perimetrically in the Department’s groundfloor, exhibit student models and 3d products. They form XLarch’s exhibition space. The shelves in-between the glass walls are 80cm D and 60cm H.
The project aims at reflecting order and method as well as orchestrating a creative experience.
Architect: Lina Stergiou.
Project team architect: Evelina Rempi.
