Tongzhou District, Beijing, China

The Field of Art Songzhuang Xiaopu Art District Detailed Urban Design Beijing Songzhuang Xiaopu Art District (the District) has become one of the most renowned and largest artistic creative clusters worldwide since the triumphant heyday of the early 1990s.

Almost 30 years passed, and the Art District has come to the point of facing significant transformation in parallel with the development of the Beijing Sub Center.

The project was awarded with a 2021 Green Good Design® Award by The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum.

The District is located right at the border of Beijing Sub Center and is planned to be a comprehensive district with the characteristics of both “the City” and “the Suburb.”

The folkloric features of traditional villages and alleys of the North are superimposed over the theme of “Art Field” in the company’s design, and most importantly, it is an art district made by the artists for the artists.

As the team take full respect that healthy industrial chain is crucial to the development of the Field of Art. Consequently, they re-proposed the industrial chain into two sections.

On the creation end, educational institutes replace the loss of artists’ relocation, and on the consumption end, the high-end galleries and art expo will meet the requisites of professional populations in the future.

For the spatial design, the architects proposed three strategies for three divisions. Northern region: mature artists residential cluster is well preserved with a compliment of exhibition space for enhancing communication between artists and the public.

Southern region: addition of commercial and recreational space will serve millions of new residents.

The defined ecological belt of Beijing Sub Center in-between becomes the Songzhuang Art Campus deemed a spiritual core and a carrier for art research and education institutes.

For the detailed design, the team carefully selected three exemplary elements as the core spatial and spiritual constituents for the District: the Northern Boulevard, the Northern Courtyard, and the Northern Field.

Xusong Road is a typical Northern Boulevard consisting of Art Workshop, Twelve Galleries of Songzhuang, Art Library, and Songzhuang Market.

The 600-meter-wide plaza as the Northern Field is conceived to be the largest outdoor exhibition space, and most importantly, the Northern Courtyard as essential living and creating spaces are created cooperatively by artists and designers.

The team highlighted the independence and interconnectivity of the artists, and the company treated development opportunities and the original natural texture with significance.

Landscape Architects: ISA Internationales Stadtbauatelier, Beijing, China and Stuttgart, Germany
Client: Tongzhou Branch of Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources, Beijing, China