Excerpt: The Community Library of Li Village River Park by Atelier LI is a small complex, organized with simple geometries and different programs. It features a reading room, reception hall, observation tower, public toilets, and a circulation system that connects various levels of the park. Inspired by the “folie” of Parc de la Villette, the architecture allows for more freedom in designing small landscape facilities.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Located on the south bank of Li Village River in Qingdao, a coastal city in northeast China, the community library is a small complex, organized with simple geometries and different programs, including a reading room, a reception hall , an observation tower, and public toilets, meanwhile providing a circulation system that connects different levels of the park. It is inspired by the “folie” of Parc de la Villette, a contemporary method to design small landscape facilities, which gives more freedom to play with forms.
The architectural game of volumes gives us a dramatic experience of the promenade in the park, in the horizontal and vertical direction. The cubic pavilion of steel structure with white aluminum plate on the façade forms a three-story space. Elements of circulation are painted in red, connecting the top level for observation, the medium level of the city road and the lower lever of the river park.
The volume of the reading room with the wavy façade on the lower lever integrates into the greenery of the park to create a tranquil and natural atmosphere for readers. For the context of the community surrounding, a very typical Chinese suburb, it brings unusual experience and vision about order and confusion, liberty and limit.
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