Born With Legend: A Community Center Masterpiece

Shanghai PTArchitects Revive Historic Neighborhood with Innovative Design

The design of the community center was inspired by the need to create an open space within a confined urban fabric. The interior and exterior venues are divided into two distinct rectangular spaces, joined together by a curved plane. This, combined with the curvature introduced into the corners of the spaces, creates a fixed and distinguished enclosure around the complex. The public entryway is unified with the rest of the structure by a white metal grille, forming simple shapes that produce rich effects of light and shadow.

The community center is located next to the city center, providing urban services to the surrounding old neighborhoods. It aims to make up for the lack of public facilities in these historic communities and revive the neighborhood. The façade is dominated by regular lineal elements, with white enamel aluminum plates serving as the basic element unifying the various materials used throughout.

The entrance is characterized by umbrella-shaped pillars topped with a grille made of white metal, forming a semi-enclosed space that connects the ground floor with the entrance, which further extends into the urban cityscape. The building itself uses curved aluminum plates as corners, rounding off the edges and establishing an overall frame for the architecture.

The architect uses modern techniques to re-contextualize classical aesthetics. Traditional brick elements of the ancient city walls are introduced into the entryway. Using old procedures with new techniques, the entryway wall is made of solid glass bricks, improving the visibility and the recognizability of the space. The conscious effort to use fewer columns and beams in the interior creates an open, fluid, and luminous space within the community center.

'Born With Legend' community center has been recognized for its innovative design, winning the Golden A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award in 2021. This prestigious award is granted to marvelous, outstanding, and trendsetting creations that reflect the designer's prodigy and wisdom, embodying extraordinary excellence and significantly impacting the world with their desirable characteristics.