Dongguan, China
Designed by Leon Liang, Architect and Executive Director of Aedas, the Humen Station Sales Gallery is an exhibition center that thematizes the infinite possibilities of China’s transit-oriented development, creating a source of vitality, attracting public attention and social gatherings that strengthen the city’s development.
Part of the expansion project of the Humen High-Speed Rail Station project, an important transportation hub sitting at the sole intersection of two major economic arteries of the Greater Bay Area that connects the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Line with the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Passenger Transport Line.
Humen Station Sales Gallery has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The booming period of high-speed rail in China is efficiently enabling connections between cities.
Through the construction of high-speed rail, TOD (China’s high-speed rail project) will become the origin and destination of cross-city life.
The Mobius Ring serves as the basis for the design concept of this exhibition hall.
The building’s spatial geometry is a one-sided surface with no boundaries, like an infinite loop.
In terms of the architectural form, instead of elevation and roof opposing each other, it is a revolving and extending unit, creating a unique “transforming” exhibition hall.
The diverse interior spaces blur the boundary between exhibition and public areas.
The staircase hovering over the atrium guides visitors not just to exhibits but also to the sensational dome along the extended curve.
Moreover, the elevated ground floor breaks with the closed sense of a typical exhibition hall, to encourage visitors to enter the “floating” exhibition center that giving visitors a feeling of weightlessness.
Other than displaying the contained works, the architecture itself is also on display.
The overall architecture is complimented by the linear language of its landscape design and the reflection of the shallow pool.
The building’s circulation also fits the concept of a back-and-forth loop: entering through shifting light and shadow, the atrium is reached like a ritual space.
The huge glass dome introduces natural light into the interior, creating a light core that gradually blurs the boundary between the building and its surroundings.
Visitors can look up to the sky through the dome to see the surrounding world.
From the rotating staircase, visitors are continually attracted to the main exhibition area of the atrium with different viewing angles.
The shifting of light and shadow at different times of day interacts with the activities taking place in the building, producing a unique experience for each visitor.
The spiral façade is composed of two major materials: folding glass and bronzed triangular aluminum plates, which emphasize the contrast of light and shadow in the building.
By dividing the folding glass equally with the center point of the skylight, the subdivision of the glass responds elegantly to the overall gesture of rotation with a standard modularization, creating a strong sense of regularity.
Triangular subdivisions of aluminum plates also follow this rotating curve. The closer plates to this curve have larger hollows so that the solid facade also has good natural lighting penetration.
The building is supported by only eight columns.
The entire second-story structure is a spiral truss that has no contact with the ground.
The truss lever is consistent with the slope of the curtain wall, which is designed to shape the unity and harmony of the structure and façade.
Project: Humen Station Sales Gallery
Architects: Aedas
Lead Architect: Leon Liang
General Contractor: Poly Bay Area Investment and Development Co., LTD
Client: Poly Bay Area Investment and Development Co., LTD
Photographers: Aedas
