In China, the Jinxing Miners’ Canteen is Renovated by Aurelien Chen
Just a several quick yrs back, the Jinxing Miners’ Canteen was in a condition of disrepair: The ceiling had all but collapsed, the wooden was rotting and the complete thing necessary significantly much more than a fresh coat of paint. Its restoration was the best challenge for French architect Aurelien Chen, who specializes in cultural and renovation assignments.
Originally constructed in the 1970s, the canteen (and the adjacent workplaces made by German architects in 1912) the moment served a local community of coal miners. The new iteration by Chen is a lively cultural room, total with a literary café, library, exhibition spaces, bar, restaurant and theatre.
Even though the constructing was in poor situation, it experienced excellent bones: Its characteristic “Red Era” design and style served as the setting up place for Chen’s redesign. The interior also highlighted typical aspects of Western architecture in China, including a flower-shaped ceiling rose whose sort drove the layout of the key hall. But the real pièces de resistance are the arched doorways and vaulted basement, which were being uncovered during the design section.
The colors, resources and furniture of the “Red Era” have been reinterpreted to modernize the interior. In the most important hall, a flora-impressed installation usually takes centre stage under the gabled wood roof. The multifunctional place can be utilized as an information and facts desk, exhibition area, relaxation place, stage or for roundtable dialogue. The encompassing furnishings just take right after the centrepiece’s natural and organic kind, encouraged by the existing mild fixtures’ concentric circles with integrated bookshelves to minimize litter in the open up idea room.
Expertly marrying present and new elements, the bar is separated from the primary hall by a black steel mesh folding display screen. The building’s concrete partitions, painted with slogans from the “Red Era” in Chinese characters, guidance the bar, which repurposes the canteen counter from the authentic constructing. The graphic black and white checker-patterned tile ground nods to the space’s unique finishes, though vibrant green counter stools and a partition wall manufactured of pink and yellow perforated steel panels add a pop of color.
On the other aspect of the partition, the restaurant strikes an completely distinctive tone. Below, abundant hues of navy and brass impart a deluxe sense, while the dimpled steel ceiling bounces light-weight all-around the house. To further more emphasize the archways discovered in the development period, Chen mimicked these kinds in the restaurant’s booth alcoves, also manufactured of black metallic mesh.
Beneath, a minimize out in the checkered flooring, coated with glass, permits website visitors to peer down the original staircase into the basement, visually linking the two degrees. In this place, Chen selected the route of nominal intervention, embracing the historic vaulted composition to make cozy reading through nooks and exhibition areas.
An arched Corten metal volume on the façade now includes the new staircase, while blue metal ornaments have been included to the other openings to unify the constructing with its historic neighbours. Initiated by the local government’s Sustainable Growth Software, the Jinxing Miners’ Canteen renovation kinds part of the Urban and Rural Preparing and Style Institute of CSCEC’s new learn plan for the web-site. Specified just a single calendar year to design and total the undertaking, Chen’s sensitive — and successful — redesign gives a window into the previous, though creating a space that serves the local community in the present.
