Dalian, China

Yolanda Deng and her design team at GEEDESIGN have renovated the landmark Dalian Gemdale City·Brown Stone Castle and created a new addition to the building based on an understanding of Dalian’s typical architectural styles and natural image of a city endowed with mountains and sea.

Located in the heart of Ganxi Eco-tech Innovation City, the space looks as though time is constructed in a natural progression,and the design strategy of the absolute clash was adopted to reshape the classic of brownstone castle.

The new project offers visitors an experience of traveling through time and space from ancient times to nowadays; meanwhile, the site-centric feature naturally creates public vitality beyond commercial purpose, which demonstrates its urban function.

To manifest an evolution from classics to modernity, we use warm and humble brown stone texture and simple glass to bring two contrasting colors for the building without sacrificing decorativeness and functionality.

Therefore, the architects focused on more details if a through-time yet connected space is expected.

Unlike traditional brownstone buildings, glass curtain walls and metallic lines and edges are used in place of stone lines and edges and iron railings.

The two constructions look unique yet naturally fit together, which represents a homage to the classics, but goes well beyond that.

To build a very attractive interface under different light conditions, the architects made a series of experiments and comparisons on glass materials, then choose the most suitable one to match different curtain wall interfaces and create real scenes out of details.

With the emergence of a new generation of residential, commercial, and cultural spaces, the future of Ganxi area where Dalian Gemdale City sits is undoubtedly promising.

The landmark building continues to reshape the city’s skyline till new space takes over old urban context, but we will never lose urban romance unique to Dalian city, and urban memories will be carefully kept, reinterpreted, and inherited so that the city can always exhibit its most vibrant part.

Project: Dalian Gemdale City · Brown Stone Castle
Architects: GEEDESIGN
Lead Architect: Yolanda Deng
Design Team: Ye Di, Zou Qian, Hou Yinghao, Ma Jian, and Xu Ruohan
Client: Dalian Gemdale City
Photographers: Zhang Qianxi and Zeng Jianghe