Steven Holl Architects' design for a new Cultural and Health Center in Shanghai was approved by COFCO, who commissioned the project in August 2016. The two buildings, set in a public landscape, will serve as a social condenser, bringing the community of the surrounding new housing blocks together in a public space and park along Punan canal.
Concepts such as porosity, clouds and time have been in charge of driving this project towards what Steven Holl Architects shows us right now for the Cultural and Health Center in Shanghai.
 
“To work on architecture for culture and health is a social commitment, during these challenging times”
–Steven Holl
 

Descripción del proyecto por Steven Holl Architects

The new Shanghai Cultural and Health Center and landscape are merged by the concept of “clouds & time,” a reference to philosopher Karl Popper’s famous 1965 lecture on the evolutionary model of free will, “Of Clouds and Clocks.” While the landscape is organized in large clock-like circles forming a central public space, the buildings are cloud-like in their porosity and openness inviting the public in.

The Cultural Center, built out of white concrete, hovers over a transparent glass base which exposes the café, game and recreation rooms. A curved ramp, climbing gently up to the second floor creates a continuous overlooking experience. The Culture Center supports an array of social and sport functions to promote community interaction and recreation, including an exhibition area, café, library, gym, and young activity areas. The Health Center, also made of white concrete, is shaped by the curves of the landscape, developing a strong relationship between its “cloud-like” parts and the whole of the landscape. The building will serve as a health consultation and education center, housing a pharmacy, consultation and examination rooms, a nursery area and lounges.

Both buildings have green sedum roofs merging further with the landscape when seen from above and in the surrounding apartment buildings. The quarter circle pool and fountain reflects the building's central space and provides rainwater recycling. The buildings, which are geothermally cooled, are designed for LEED platinum certification.

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Architects
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Steven Holl Architects.
Steven Holl (Design Architect).
Roberto Bannura (Director-in-Charge).
Noah Yaffe (Partner-in-Charge).
Xi Chen (Project Architect).
Wenying Sun, Ruoyu Wei, Dimitra Tsachrelia, Okki Berendschot, Pu Yun, Elise Riley, Lydia Liu, Tsung-Yen Hsieh, Michael Haddy, Yi Ren, Xu Zhang (Project Team).
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Associate Architects
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East China Architectural Design & Research Institute.
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Structural engineer
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East China Architectural Design & Research Institute.
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Mechanical engineer
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East China Architectural Design & Research Institute.
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Steven Holl was born in 1947 in Bremerton, Washington. He graduated from the University of Washington and pursued architecture studies in Rome in 1970. In 1976 he attended the Architectural Association in London and established STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS in New York City. Considered one of America's most important architects.He has realized cultural, civic, academic and residential projects both in the United States and internationally. Most recently completed are the Cité de l'Océan et du Surf in Biarritz, France (2011).

Steven Holl is a tenured Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture and Planning. He has lectured and exhibited widely and has published numerous texts.

Recently the office has won a number of international design competitions including the new design for the Contemporary Art Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, USA) and he has been recognized with architecture's most prestigious awards and prizes. Recently, he received the RIBA 2010 Jencks Award, and the first ever Arts Award of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards (2009). In 2006 Steven Holl received honorary degrees from Seattle University and Moholy-Nagy University in Budapest. In 2003 he was named Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Steven Holl is a member of the American National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), the American Institute of Architects, the American Association of Museums, the Honorary Whitney Circle, the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the International Honorary Committee, Vilpuri Library, of the Alvar Aalto Foundation.

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Published on: January 30, 2017
Cite: "Cultural and Health Center in Shanghai by Steven Holl Architects" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/cultural-and-health-center-shanghai-steven-holl-architects> ISSN 1139-6415
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