Rice Wine Town Reception Room: A Blend of Tradition and Modernity

Wei Zhang and Kesuo Wu - gad's Innovative Design for a Cultural Exhibition

The Rice Wine Town Reception Room is a three-story building that was once a workshop for producing rice wine. Its red brick chimney is preserved, adding a touch of history to the modern structure. The building's design makes full use of the landscape advantages of the site, with the building volume stacked and retreated back from south to north. This arrangement forms a number of roof terraces overlooking the Dashu River, creating more possibilities for the later use of the restaurant.

The design draws inspiration from the strong functional adaptability of traditional wooden frame architecture and the Domino architecture system. The scheme decided to take a 4.8mx4.8mx4.8m cubic square as the basic module of the building. This module can simultaneously adapt to the plane and floor height requirements of basic space such as exhibition, shop, restaurant, toilet, elevator room, etc. A smaller span can also achieve higher indoor net height, and meet the requirements of exhibition experience and commercial operation.

The facade decoration is made of recycled bamboo as the main material of the exterior wall. The bamboo planks are preprocessed into L-shaped members in the factory, which reduces the on-site assembling workload and joint treatment, and improves the construction speed and the accuracy of on-site installation. This use of recycled bamboo not only adds an aesthetic appeal to the building but also promotes environmental sustainability.

One of the unique features of this design is its flexibility. Due to the functional transformation in different periods and the avoidance of large-scale civil construction, the division of architectural space must be flexible. This flexibility is achieved through the use of a basic modular unit that is completely mapped to the form and facade of the building. The repeated modular units form a unique architectural temperament.

The Rice Wine Town Reception Room is not just a building, but a cultural exhibition that tells the story of Shaoxing's rich history and its famous rice wine. The building is associated with traditional Chinese construction methods, and responds to complex functional construction demands with a unified modular design language, responds to the site and history, infuses the vitality of the Times into the thousand-year-old ancient town, and inherits the yellow rice wine culture in a dynamic way.

This innovative design by Wei Zhang and Kesuo Wu - gad was awarded Silver in A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award in 2022. The award is a testament to their remarkable design that illustrates outstanding expertise and innovation. The Rice Wine Town Reception Room is indeed a blend of tradition and modernity, a perfect example of how architecture can tell a story and preserve cultural heritage.