本项目对既有厂房进行改造，并在周围建造画廊和商业设施等新建筑。既有建筑是一座钢结构的化妆品厂房，改造后需要囊括：艺术画廊、仓库、咖啡厅、面包店、餐饮区和屋顶花园。此外，改造还必须满足一个要求：“维持既有空间的空白。”事实上，这些要求并非业主委托，而是设计师对建筑进行判断之后向业主建议的。既有建筑四周的钢柱围合出盒子空间，虽然里面堆满各种机器，但它完全有恢复空白的潜力。而如果用新材料填充空间，并建立隔墙，把所有功能都塞进去，原有的空白特征就会消失。设计师也一直在控制这点。如何维持空白？这种形式能获得建设资金吗？

This project is to renovate an existing factory building and build new buildings around it. There are galleries and commercial facilities here. The old building was a cosmetic factory with a steel structure. The facilities required for the renovation building were: a few art galleries, a few warehouses, one cafe, one bakery, a few food and beverage areas and rooftop garden. And the building had to meet another requirement. ’Preserve voids in existing spaces after renovation.’

Actually, this is not what the client commissioned from me, it’s more like I commissioned the architecture and asked the client for it. The steel pillars on the edge of the existing building made the inside into an empty box. It was cluttered with all kinds of machines, but this place had the ability to be completely empty. If this space were to be filled with new flooring material, a wall separating the program was built, and all functions were put in, it was clear that the empty capacity of the old plan would disappear. I’ve been struggling to get hold of this. How can voids be preserved? Can this form get permission from construction capital?

▼项目概览，general view

盒子 | Box

与复杂的改造项目不同，该项目的每座新建筑都具有独立功能（包括酒店、咖啡厅、艺术画廊等）。因此，这些建筑内少设内墙。在与业主讨论完面积后，设计师进入到家具设计阶段。在很多项目中，家具往往更加突出。如果建筑和家具都能很好地解决特定问题，那么选择通过家具解决就会更加经济。在遥远的将来，这座建筑可能会被拆除，而家具则可以在其他地方继续被使用。

▼盒子轴测图，axonometric drawings of box

Unlike the complex program of renovation buildings, each of the newly built buildings is given a single program (wine shop, cafe, art gallery, etc.). So these buildings have very few interior walls. After discussing the maximum volume required with the client, we move on to the furniture design stage. And in many cases, furniture does the job better. If both architecture and furniture can do their job well in solving a particular problem, it is much more economical for furniture to do the job. Furniture may be used elsewhere in the distant future. The building must be demolished.

盒子建筑外观，external view of boxes

盒子建筑一角，a corner of the box