In fact, sometimes you will find that all the world likes the same things.
For example, they all like “circles”.
You say you want an Audi because the four circles represent the owner’s fashion sense.
You say you like macaroons because the French desserts in the shape of circles are the trendsetters of the dessert world.
Or maybe you want to wear the size of Yayoi Kusama’s polka dots with the Japanese fashion witch.
Another polka-dotted pumpkin sculpture she placed in Naoshima, Japan, has become a pilgrimage spot for fashion and art fanatics.
Architects are also the makers of fashion, the playmakers of circles. A “circle” can make the ordinary and uninteresting scheme shine, make the rational and disciplined function shine, and make the uninteresting architecture more brilliant. Here are a few “circles” that will give you a taste of “circle fashion” in architecture:
The first “circle”: the door to an imaginary world
A paradise needs a passage, a cave needs a window, a zinkou needs a port, and a visionary world needs a fashionable door.
There is such a special red house in Quanzhou, China, where the big “circle” heralds a special other visionary world. In China, round holes have a special meaning, and they are poetically associated with the full moon, which often represents beauty and perfection.
As the most distinctive feature of the house, the main façade has a clearly visible 19-meter diameter hole in the moon. A long ramp leading up through the roof and into the hole will open up to you and make you wonder what is going on in such a round hole. I don’t know if you can see an exotic part of the world, an otherworldly place, through this seemingly extraordinary round hole.
In the cave there is a osmanthus flower, under the osmanthus there is a huge tea garden hanging in the air, there is a “circle of people” to invite you to join. The “non-standard” entrance circle creates an illusory interior, like the tranquility of the forest, like the light of a cave, which is the atmosphere that we Orientals prefer, but also the fashionable feeling that modern people prefer.
The second “circle” is a window for looking at each other
The stylish exterior of this immediately distinctive building, a private cultural center in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, is the two half-moon shaped volumes of the main façade, with separate openings and windows to form a complete ‘circle’. Inspired by a film called Two Moon Junction, the owner’s idea was to express a sense of space that is as exuberant as the film, making it a place of fun and relaxation.
The two separate concrete boxes seem to have been knocked into one corner by a ball, which gives the space interest. In particular, a reverse-arc balcony sticks out from one of the concave corners, which may be exactly the attractive space the owner needs. And just at this time, opposite the concrete box, there is another person hiding behind the window to observe you secretly, this will be such a happy event ah.
The Third Circle: The Complicated Heart
You say that what you see is not a circle, then please look closely at the interior of the building façade space, completely from a complete “circle” radiating out of the “left and right atria”. Even though these open spaces are not the core function of the building, they are the fascinating “heart” of the building’s spatial form.
The Shanghai Jiading Poly Grand Theatre creates a sense of fashion that is dramatically playful and tense. The square and cylindrical volumes made of fair-faced concrete are interspersed with each other to create the “heart” of a series of breathtaking interior spaces.
The concrete volumes are interspersed under the “circle” to create a rich spatial hierarchy, while the circular volumes are covered with thin strips of wood, diluting the helpless emptiness of the large lobby space that connects them and adding a layer of fashion to the seemingly monolithic circle. The varied and unpredictable interiors and the shady spaces within the huge concrete boxes are extremely attractive to those who are interested in exploring and discovering beauty.
The fourth “circle” is a conduit for knowledge exchange
Can I use stylish circle elements in school buildings? The answer is definitely yes.
The design of Zhengzhou Xingang Elementary School in Henan Province is to use a series of circles and arrays of volume, either hollow or solid, to create a “fashion circle” that not only belongs to the children, but also to the city, which will become a kind of landscape when viewed from a distance.
The school should not be an ivory tower for the children, but should be seen by the real city. In order for the people in the city to see this, and for the children to see each other, the building should be as transparent as possible. It is not really transparent in the sense that it is all glass, but in the sense that it is like looking at the sky through the trees, with holes and passages layered on top of each other, half-hidden and half-obscured, creating a sense of yearning. In order to enhance this sense of depth and attraction, the walls are made into circles, either virtual or real, which are superimposed on each other.
In this way, we try to make the school an attractive space where children can discover themselves and express themselves, where they can see one thing but not the whole through the passages of the circles, and where they can fall in love with the place and love learning.
The fifth “circle”: the coat of brand scenes
If one “circle” doesn’t make your fashion statement, then two, three, or whatever! That’s right, the Klin Kumho Cultural Complex is so capricious that it uses several sets of circles stacked on top of each other to express its brand image.
Branding has now been reclassified in a whole new realm, and good branding has become a fashionable logo that translates better into a spatial concept. It can create an urban sculpture, which then forms a composite spatial identity. As design work shifts, it allows architects to approach space differently to create an unconventional brand icon.
The process of transforming the brand identity of the Klingenkamp Lake is the process of transforming the brand identity through architectural fashion styling. Today, everyone sees the repetition of circular openings and thinks of the brand – the steel façade departs from tradition with a variety of circles, recessed into the surfaces of windows and openings; a circular walkway connects the various areas of the complex; and inside, a cylindrical glass turntable connects the different functional spaces of the complex, from the offices to the offices. The building is composed of meeting rooms, cafes and creative spaces for public performances, events and exhibitions.
In this vast land of China, the architects, who are used to traditional architecture, have just “let their hair down” for a few years, but they have been suppressed by all kinds of regulations. Who says that fashionable architecture can only be “deconstructed” and “post-modern” that normal people can’t understand, and would it not be more acceptable to the public to use the “round” elements of public aesthetics? In today’s information age, it is no longer fashionable to simply do something different, but to find a new orderly language like the one above to organize the conventional “round” elements is the key for architects to become “trendsetters”.
Don’t you think these are great architectural designs? If you’re interested in architecture, check out our other section – Wall Design.