This real-estate sales centre in China's Henan province features a wooden structure designed by architecture firm LUO Studio to be easily adapted or dismantled.
Located in Puyang County, the Longfu Life Experience Centre was commissioned by an eco-farm operator engaging in property development, who required a space to target consumers chasing a green lifestyle.
It was vital that it was sustainable and built from natural materials, to match his corporate identity.
Given the short lifespan of typical real-estate sales centres in China, LUO Studio also set out to develop a structure for that could be used in various ways, rather than limited to its primary function.
Using Mies van der Rohe's Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago as a model, the Beijing-based architects devised a modular structure, made up of units that could be produced from just three components.
The modules take the form of “clustered columns”, inspired by the shape of trees. These can be applied independently or combined with others “just like Lego bricks”.
The clustered column was divided into five segments. The bottom part of each clustered column is in the shape of a regular polygon. These extend upward from the bottom and form a square outside edge. The result is a building that can be easily extended, reduced, or completely dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere.
LUO Studio hopes the project will challenge the commonplace interiors of these sorts of sales centres, which is described as "wasteful and complicated".
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