1/2 Classroom
image/text
Location: Suzhou
Type: Renovation, Office Space
Area: 50 m²
Time of Design: 2022.7
Status: Built
Design: Xiaodi Sun
½ Classroom is a renovation project in which an elementary school space was converted into our work studio. Nestled in the old city Suzhou, No. 14 Zhujiayuan used to be an elementary school from the 80s. With the recent shifts in population and economic structure, the school is no longer in use and the campus is made open to new occupants. We rented a classroom space on the second floor of the old school, and turned it into a place that can accommodate our needs and the studio’s daily function.
The key architectural element here in play is “the wall”. Since we have half the size of the original classroom, the wall in between our space and the other half becomes a point of interest. This wall is what separates the space from its current condition and its intended typology. Not unlike an alienated object, this wall has created a bizarre situation upon which the orientation, function, and character of the place have all changed.
We feel like taking advantage of this twisted moment. In our design, the wall becomes an interstitial space. It was stretched, widened, made occupiable. It is able to house shelving for books and electronic equipment, it is also where our sketch board and pin-up wall takes place. Through the process of densifying programs and activities into one place, we hope to create a moment of resilience within the boundary of the original room. This is the in-between place, where marks of transformation could perhaps be found.
image/text
Location: Suzhou
Type: Renovation, Office Space
Area: 50 m²
Time of Design: 2022.7
Status: Built
Design: Xiaodi Sun
½ Classroom is a renovation project in which an elementary school space was converted into our work studio. Nestled in the old city Suzhou, No. 14 Zhujiayuan used to be an elementary school from the 80s. With the recent shifts in population and economic structure, the school is no longer in use and the campus is made open to new occupants. We rented a classroom space on the second floor of the old school, and turned it into a place that can accommodate our needs and the studio’s daily function.
The key architectural element here in play is “the wall”. Since we have half the size of the original classroom, the wall in between our space and the other half becomes a point of interest. This wall is what separates the space from its current condition and its intended typology. Not unlike an alienated object, this wall has created a bizarre situation upon which the orientation, function, and character of the place have all changed.
We feel like taking advantage of this twisted moment. In our design, the wall becomes an interstitial space. It was stretched, widened, made occupiable. It is able to house shelving for books and electronic equipment, it is also where our sketch board and pin-up wall takes place. Through the process of densifying programs and activities into one place, we hope to create a moment of resilience within the boundary of the original room. This is the in-between place, where marks of transformation could perhaps be found.