o-office architects finished work on iD town and mjh gallery

o-office architects finished work on iD town and mjh gallery
image © chaos.z
all images courtesy of prentiss architects

as covered previously, chinese practice o-office architects had begun the renovation of ‘iD town’, an art district housed within an abandoned printing and dying factory from the late 20th century. now almost three decades later the project has reached completion, resulting in a final exhibition held in the original packing workshop now titled the mjh gallery. the primary concrete structure, in all its decaying glory, was left for the most part intact as it retained its structural capacity. given the large open space defined by the aged cement, the gallery was considered an infill project that subdivided the vast space to create a coherent sequence of spaces through inserted objects and materials. the main exhibition hall is contained within a black steel mass raised off the ground in the center of the concrete shell. skylights in this form collect sunlight seeping in through the canopy voids of the original structure. along the ground, individual cubes house show rooms, an auditorium, art shop and dividable multi-functional spaces, within a floor plan that is completely open to the surrounding structure and existing campus. though new structures are carefully injected into the decaying framework, marked moments of the site’s history are left untouched so that a stroll through the renovated campus will reveal a journey through architectural history illustrating the various phases of the structures and styles of their times.

overall view of the structure and entrance forms
image © chaos.z

lobby space into the exhibition hall
image © chaos.z

under the elevated exhibition space, with a mixture of modern furniture and original concrete structure
image © chaos.z

large glass facades of the exhibition hall allow light from the rooftop to reach the ground floor
image © chaos.z

perimeter hallways are completely open to the exterior, preserving only the existing concrete columns and rusted iron mullions
image © chaos.z

ramp-way to the exhibition area
image © chaos.z

image © chaos.z

image © chaos.z

exhibition space
image © chaos.z

newly built exterior pathways
image © chaos.z

image © chaos.z

before construction

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project info:

architect: o-office architects
location: kuipeng road 106, dapeng new district, shenzhen, china
area: 3370m2
completed: november 2014
photographer: zhang chao