Minjiang Lifestyle Gallery | INUCE • Dirk U. Moench

One of the major Chinese real estate corporations is developing a large-scale SOHO district at the southern shore of the Min River, transforming the undeveloped riverbank into a dense urban work environment for hundreds of start-up companies. To build a “lifestyle gallery” vis-à-vis with the actual construction site can provide customers with a “real life” experience of the development prior to its completion.

The challenge for the architect was to plan and realize the architecture from sketch to handover within the nearly impossible timeframe of less than 150 days. It was important to keep in mind that the gallery should be designed as cost-effectively as possible for the short operating time of only three years and then be easy to dismantle again.

In order to achieve these objectives the usual project phasing was abandoned in favor of an intricate overlapping of planning and construction as far as reasonably possible: Foundations were laid once the schematic plans had been drafted. The gallery was assembled on site using prefabricated steel, glass, and aluminum components. The construction of the interior was well on the way even before the curtain wall had been installed. Three 8-hour shifts kept the construction ongoing for 24 hours a day.

In order to meet young buyers’ need for a creative and flexible work environment, which offers urban convenience whilst upholding a close link to nature, the architecture needed to constitute a space which turned the visit of a muddy construction site into an unexpected fun experience and celebration of the riverside location. Literally built atop a water surface, the gallery is composed of two staggered volumes orbiting around a central water fountain. The upper volume is cantilevered by 8 meters and supported by a single column. It constitutes a floating courtyard focusing the view onto the blue sky above. Floors, walkways, staircases and squares are conceived as a continuous trajectory which provides a constant exposure to the surrounding nature.

On the inside of the gallery visitors embark on a carefully planned experience route around the courtyard - from receiving a welcoming drink at the reception bar, all the way to enjoying the exclusive river view from the full – scale sample units. Upon returning home, the visitor has a last look from the viewing platform onto the construction site and witnesses the “soon-to-be-his” SOHO unit being built. The construction was completed in November 2014 and officially opened on schedule. Soon it became a popular tourist destination on the riverbank and was featured on FJTV as a landmark on the popular television program „My Fuzhou - Past, Present and Future“.