TOWOdesign unveils an experience hall for passive houses in china

TOWOdesign has created an exhibition hall in china, allowing people to deeply understand the relationship between cave dwellings and passive houses from the perspectives of art, future, and life. the project translates the abstract and professional concept of passive houses into an interesting, visualized, and easy-to-understand scientific composition.

all images courtesy of TOWOdesign

TOWOdesign selected the soil used to construct the cave dwellings as the core element and applied it across the hall. in the first half of the exhibition hall, the soil manifests its natural traits, both the naïve beauty and the post-pollution anger of fighting back. in the second half, after becoming rational and restrained with the assistance of science and technology, the soil is ‘reborn’ to construct passive houses.

after the frames projected on the electrochromic glass, the waste machine behind is exposed in front of visitors’ eyes. the slow opening of the glass door signifies the start of the experience journey to the passive houses. the construction is formed with parameter-based design and deduction under the rigorous planning of the visitor flow and the exhibition items. walls, pillars, roofs, platforms, and other practical functions are hidden in the integrated shape.

the core soil in the exhibition hall gradually converges in shape, and the local position gradually becomes a long bar-shaped tabletop, intersecting with the surrounding architectural box space. every box corresponds to the display content of a section. the exhibition information in the hall is divided into three grades—the entertaining, the popular science, and the professional. children get to know the basic principles in interactive games, and those who are interested in the principles can also find the most professional objects and data.

the wood presents the beauty of alienation under the pure white space warning people that the green was once so fragile and precious. the experiencers finish the whole visit while walking through the woods. actually, there are only quadrant trees in the space, which are reflected through the mirrors on the walls and ceilings.

project info:

name: cave dwelling shall predict the future — experience hall for passive house

designer: TOWOdesign

client: gaoxin real estate

lead designer: he mu

interior design: he mu, chen jie, shi lei

lighting design: he beixiang, hui yue

parametric design: li wang

media design: lin yufeng, shi weiwei, yang feng, yang fei

location: xi’an city, shaanxi province, china

project area: 1400sqm (15069 sqft)

completion time: 2021

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina petridou | designboom