© Zhang Zheming

• Architects: Cao Pu
• Location: 1703 Firework Mansion, No.605 Furong Mid Road, Changsha,China
• Project Planning: Sun Shengqi, Xiong Yong, Zhao Xuru, Zou Rong
• Area: 60.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Zhang Zheming

© Zhang Zheming

From the architect. Located on Middle Furong Road, Changsha, the 17-storey Firework Mansion used to be the dormitory building for staff of the former state-owned Hunan Firecrackers & Fireworks Import and Export Company. The company spared no expense to build this mansion and poured the whole building structure with concrete. Nowadays, young people have moved out of this mansion, so those left are mostly retired elderly people.

© Zhang Zheming

diagram dd. Image © Zhang Zheming

© Zhang Zheming

There is a small 60 m2 two-bedroom apartment on the top floor of the building. The once high-expense complete shear wall structure forms a light tight environment between the rooms and between the apartment and the outside. Even in daytime, the interior is dim and the living room has no light at all. The owners want to transfer this apartment into a family bookstore, and name it “Reedom”.They wish to provide a good place to go for the residents in Firework Mansion.

© Zhang Zheming

The small apartment is not qualified to provide environment for reading. We enlarge the window on the outer wall as much as possible; open several holes on each solid wall inside, to let the light and eyesight pass. Meanwhile, the space divided into separate rooms can become an integrated whole. Holes inside the house also invite in natural draught.

© Zhang Zheming

The rooms are small. We decide to go the adverse way to change them into smaller ones and create a more sincere and concentrated environment for reading. Thus, we placed bookcases and partitions in the already small living room and bedrooms. To save space, we’d like to use the holes as desks.

© Zhang Zheming

In this way, we get many mini reading rooms with interlinked light, eyesight and air, while ensuring privacy. The balcony becomes a most unique place for reading, with a good city view and soft breeze when opening the window.

© Zhang Zheming

We once thought about open a scuttle on the roof. However, the plan was finally aborted due to various reasons. In the end, we enlarged a window in the living room. Using a corner of the rooftop platform as the extension of the bookstore, to face it and window of the balcony, a rooftop miniature environment is formed. We have built very good relations with the neighbors. Meanwhile, we are designing better facilities for them to dry clothes and pickled radish on the rooftop.

diagram cc. Image © Zhang Zheming

We hope to finally build the area into a good place to go for the whole community.

The elevator hall of the building has a round window, which just face the outer windows of the Reedom. So we placed the signboard “Reedom” outside it and pasted the logo on it. Seeing from a specific angle, the logo forms other words when linked to the words on the signboard.  Meanwhile, we chose a space and printed the QR code of the bookstore onto the former mosaic outer wall of the building.. The code can be scanned from some angle in the store.

© Zhang Zheming

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Courtesy of MMK+

Within the sprawling metropolis of Seoul lies an island “forgotten by time.” Sitting beneath the Hangang Bridge on the River Han, the floating lot is now nothing but a relic of a bygone era. Formerly a popular man-made beach and recreational area, the past forty years have seen the site erased from the collective consciousness of the city. To breathe new life into the island, the Nodeul Island Dream competition was opened, and Seoul-based MMK+ and Taehyung Park’s proposal ‘Reconfigured Ground‘ took first prize. 

The proposal looks at the evolution of the island from constructed paradise to overgrown void. Throughout this evolution, an ecosystem has developed and gradual formal changes have taken place. The remote character of the island – currently accentuated by its abandonment – is to be transformed into a positive condition, as it becomes a cultural haven within the bustling city. The architects’ design aims to “restore the wild nature of the island while re-programming its natural features as a cultural venue,” once again making it a destination point for inhabitants of the city. 

Courtesy of MMK+

The project proposes a reconfiguration of the ground levels of the site, with a distinct upper and lower level hosting diverse public programs. The ground plane itself has been reconfigured to soften the jarring height difference between the island and the bridge which runs overhead. Two distinct circulatory loops – the upper and lower – form the basis for the distribution of new programs.

Courtesy of MMK+

Though linked by open plazas and visual connectivity, the upper and lower level host distinctly separate programs.  The upper loop is a smaller radius and connects the eco-learning center, Han River observatory, and the Nodeul Forest. In contrast, the larger lower loop wraps the whole island with a promenade, urban beach, bike center, and observation deck. 

The upper-level hosts open public space, intended for temporary installations and gathering points. In contrast, the lower level is designed to accommodate start-up offices, shops, restaurants, plazas, market street, and a 500-person performance hall. Traditional Korean village settings (referred to as Maeuls) evolve here: where a small community of different programs and user groups coexist in harmony.

Courtesy of MMK+

MMK+ said in a press release: Nodeul Maeul’s new structural system will be composed of a 10m x 10m modular precast concrete grid, integrated with a pre-installed flexible MEP system. The expandability of the system allows for a ”participatory design”, where the architect provides the framework, and the spaces are defined by a response to the users’ evolving needs. This dynamic, community-driven, typology brings unique opportunities for users and visitors, creating a place filled with historical values and limitless potential.

Courtesy of MMK+

The existing island forest is augmented by a new planting strategy, designed to breathe new life into the established ecosystem. MMK+ and Taehyung Park propose a four staged approach comprised of; the preservation and removal of decaying plants, seeding and nurturing new plant-life, adding programmatic planting, and curating edge-defining planting. Diverse outdoor landscape programs are interlaced into the circulatory loops, enabling users to move through different natural and built conditions as move across the island. 

Courtesy of MMK+

For more information, check out the competition website, including the other prize-winning proposals.

• Architects: Studio MMK
• Location: Seoul, South Korea
• Design Team: Pilsoo Maing, Jihoon Kim, Donghwan Moon
• Collaborators: Taehyung Park
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of MMK+

News via MMK+.

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Courtesy of Moleskine

Thinking about investing in some new technology? Creativeboom has compiled a list of 20 dream gadgets for designers that will either make your workflow more efficient or just be a whole lot of fun to play around with.

Gadgets include maker-targeted machines like the Glowforge 3D Printer and the 3Doodler, along with innovation in sketching technology like Moleskine’s Smart Writing Kit and the Pantone Capsure for finding the right hue from real life surfaces. There are also some products that will make your life easier, like Satechi’s USB Hub that provides you with 4 additional USB ports.

Find the complete list of gadgets at Creativeboom, here.

The Ultimate Guide To 21 Products You Need Now
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