spotlighting the top 10 public spaces of 2022 by our readers

This year, as we returned to a sense of normalcy, we saw designers across the world use the power of spatial design to safely bring people together and foster a sense of community. From sustainable schools making educational more accessible and engaging, to a giant self-contained floating city on a terayacht, our readers portal has provided a broad window to the best of architecture and design from all over the world.

Continuing our BIG stories wrap-up, we spotlight the TOP 10 public spaces submitted by our readers featured on designboom in 2022.

SLOPING PLAYGROUND ROOFTOPS RENOVATED 50-YEAR-OLD KINDERGARTEN BY STUDIO YY IN JAPAN

image © GRAPHY Inc.

In Chiba Prefecture, Japan, Studio YY has reimagined a 50-year-old kindergarten as a playful forest hill for the children. The pre-existing wooden building was transformed into a certified childcare center designed to overlook the green surroundings, allowing the young students to interact with nature. Adopting hill-like shape with grass slopes and vibrant playground installations, the project seeks to nurture energetic children who love to be active, playful and creative.

CHIANGMAI LIFE ARCHITECTS COMPLETES CONCENTRIC BAMBOO SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH OCULUS IN THAILAND

image © Chiangmai Life Architects

Chiangmai Life Architects fuses natural, modern bamboo architecture with state-of-the-art engineering in the new Panyaden Secondary School Library in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The low-lying structure features an organic design typology centered on concentric circles and earthen adobe walls. Additionally, the school is topped by a reciprocal, two-tiered bamboo roof with an oculus skylight and supported by bamboo truss archways throughout the interior and exterior.

WUTOPIA LAB CONVERTS DISUSED BARNYARD INTO GOLDEN YELLOW HAVEN IN SHANGHAI

image © CreatAR images

Chinese practice Wutopia Lab returns with the revival of an abandoned barnyard in Chongming, Shanghai — transforming the site into a colorful land art dubbed ‘cockaigne of everyman’. Golden yellow permeable concrete evoking a paddy field, with dark red lines, form an everlasting barnyard scene. Some parts are divided into blocks while others are scalloped — and in the open areas, the terrain rises slightly, forming a ‘grain pile’ with undulating heights on which to stand. looking at the entire site, one might think it is frozen at a particular ‘harvest’ time.

On the project name, lead architect Ting Yu comments: ‘what we associate with the barnyard is a farm lifestyle and certain material fantasies of the time. in any case, the expression of the barnyard is simple and direct. so I decided to use the golden color to symbolize the harvest that never ends. I wanted the cockaigne to be a place of eternal leisure, superb food, and edible buildings.’

UAD NESTLES STONE-CLAD TERRACED MUSEUM IN REMOTE CHINESE COUNTRYSIDE

Nestled in rural Zhejiang, China, the Qingxi Culture and History Museum by UAD is positioned as a small, stone-clad, and terraced building that integrates a tourist center and plenty of spaces for display. The site sits far away from the hustle and bustle of city life, with only one country road connecting several villages nearby. Every now and then, museum visitors can catch a glimpse of locals working the fields around the area.

As noticeable from the exterior design, UAD prioritized blending the architectural silhouette into the site’s terraced landform. This is perfectly exemplified by the building’s rooftops planted with crops to harmonize with the terraced fields nearby. Due to a great height discrepancy, the plot features recessed platforms ascending from north to south, with an expansive view northwards. Meanwhile, terraced fields emerge on the east and west, embracing the sight of rolling mountains in the distance.

The interior spaces are created following the external form. Irregular walls and staggered roofs make every room unique and full of variations, like the diverse paths in the countryside. Natural light penetrates windows and skylights and falls onto the walls and the floor, generating varying scenes in the space.

60,000 METERS OF HEMP ROPE TRANSFORMS ABANDONED SCHOOL INTO BOUTIQUE HOTEL IN BEIJING

image © Domain Architects

Domain Architects has rented and transformed an old school building into a high-end boutique hotel in the mountainous area surrounding the city center of Beijing, China. The site for the new Beijing MM Farm hotel was previously a primary school abandoned for years in a rural village, consisting of four rows of brick and timber frame houses surrounded by high perimeter walls.

In order to preserve the original structure as it was found Domain Architects leaves the facades of the cluster of buildings untouched, instead using 60,000 meters of removable hemp rope to ‘wrap’ around the hotel in a uniform, mesh-row pattern. A sustainable renovation project with a close to zero carbon footprint, the architects primarily use local and natural materials such as timber and hemp, and local labor for the construction.

D6THD DESIGN STUDIO GROWS TRIANGULAR COTTAGES IN A MANGO TREE FARM IN INDIA

image © Inclined Studio

Amongst a foliage of mango trees, emerge triangular fairytale-like cottages by d6thD design studio. The play of nature and geometries expands on the Indian farm as the free-flowing spaces are arranged uninterruptedly around the landscape. The way the houses and greenery come together only triggers in visitors the urge to explore what is hidden and to explore the area step by step. with the architecture blending instead of disturbing the trees, an almost inseparable image blossoms.

THIS MINIMALIST WHITEWASHED VILLA BRINGS GREEK ISLAND ARCHITECTURE TO VIETNAM

Pham Huu Son Architects has completed Santo by the sea, a holiday home inspired by the owners’ dream of a small Santorini house in Vietnam. Nestled amid the picturesque natural beauty of Van Phong Bay, the structure takes shape as a minimalist whitewashed villa combining elements of traditional Greek island architecture and modern Vietnamese beauty.

DINING SPACE WITH VAULTED BRICK CANOPY PERCHES ABOVE A SERENE LAKE IN INDIA

Bangalore-based practice Play Architecture has designed a serene restaurant with a vaulted brick canopy within the small village of Saklespur, in Karnataka, India. Previously accommodating a homestay, the site is now transformed into a 10-acre property with a dining space above the existing stream. Perched right next to a serene lake and embraced by a deep valley, the Deva Dhare dining area provides visitors with mesmerizing views of the verdant natural surroundings, infusing them with peace and tranquility.

POP-UP ‘LONELY NOODLE’ RESTAURANT IN SHANGHAI SEATS DINERS IN IMMERSIVE ONE-PERSON BOOTHS

J&Dragon Group’s ‘Lonely Noodle Shop’ is a themed pop-up restaurant in Shanghai, China, which creates an immersive and soothing dining experience for the ‘lonely’ people of the city. Through a bold fusion of light, color, and a bowl of noodles, the restaurant offers a time and space to heal the urban phenomena of loneliness and social anxiety in the late hours of the night. The concept offers diners an opportunity to enjoy a meal in the comfort of their own company enclosed within a private one-person booth, while simultaneously enjoying collective live entertainment with other diners.

POP-UP DOUBLE THE SIZE OF THE COLOSSEUM, PIERPAOLO LAZZARINI’S PANGEOS TERAYACHT IS A FLOATING CITY

Proposing a giant floating continent, double the size of the Roman Colosseum, Pierpaolo Lazzarini returns with a new innovative, monumental terayacht concept. The Pangeos watercraft is an itinerant floating city, comprising various hotels, shopping centers, parks, ship and aircraft ports, and all other facilities needed to house up to 60,000 guests in the middle of the sea.

The terayacht proposal takes its name from Pangea, the supercontinent that existed millions of years ago during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. Translating this into a somewhat futuristic expression, Pangeos extends its length for 550 meters (1,800 ft) and measures 610 meters (2,000 ft) at its widest point — the wings. If realized, the turtle-shaped vessel will become the world’s largest structure ever built.