Hangzhou is one of China‘s wealthiest cities, and as such, life here is not only good, but comes with a lot of perks, including an urban environment in which art is considered vital for well-being. The recently opened BAC Art Community in the city’s Xihu district aims to boost the city’s stature as a vibrant cultural and artistic hub with all prerequisite facilities, including a coffee parlour. Called B131, it sits directly across from the venue’s art museum on an open space, occupying a modest square volume, built with lightweight steel structure and clad in anodised aluminium panels. designed by local architecture practice Jangjie Office, the framework comprises twelve columns and beams which shape both the building and the spatial experience. Additionally, columns become part of the interior layout, defining seating zones and guiding movement. Next to large windows in the façade, a square skylight brings in natural light. B131‘s interior walls are entirely in light, untreated wood. Right in the middle a full-fledged bar with a metal top is situated. On the north side, a slender slit frames the view through trees toward the street, while four operable sliding aluminium panels can be fully opened in warmer weather. © superfuture
B131
BAC Art Community, 131 Xiangshan Lu (Xihu)
310024 Hangzhou
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
