The Yard, Dalian Cultural Center

The project gathers six buildings, about forty years old, that once held the offices, warehouses and dormitories of a chemical research institute, in a district close to university campuses and software parks. The blocks differ in height, and each had been altered by earlier renovations, so they shared little beyond the site. The most distinctive was the former workers’ dormitory, its ground floor lined with wooden gates and garage stalls once used for repairs.

The Chinese practice set out to turn this hidden, inward-looking compound into a destination for the neighbourhood and the students nearby, while keeping its sense of a small, half-forgotten corner of the city. The programme brings together galleries, shops, restaurants, a cinema, a theatre and offices. The dormitory has become a workplace, and a small library by the entrance welcomes visitors and is open to the public.

The existing buildings formed a U that faced a large, empty car park. The design team completed the figure and closed it into a courtyard, using a new system of walls, screens and canopies. Drawing on the Chinese garden, the continuous enclosure gives the yard a contemplative calm away from the noise of the street and frames a field of large rocks at its centre. It also works as a second facade layer, mediating between the old blocks and the new additions.

The material palette is kept minimal and raw so that it sits easily with the existing stucco facades. Corten steel, chosen for its industrial character and for the way it weathers and records the passing of time, wraps the new surfaces above a base of old brick. Inside, fresh plaster is set against partly exposed brick and structure, letting past and present remain legible side by side.