Press Release
Qiushi Academy by U a D Is Granted the Silver A' Design Award in Cultural Heritage and Culture Industry Design
U a D honored for cultural heritage and culture industry design by the international grand jury of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 20, 2023 /DesignNewswire/ Qiushi Academy by U a D, designed for Uad, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Cultural Heritage and Culture Industry Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the Silver A' Design Award Means
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
More About Qiushi Academy
Qiushi is an academy building complex designed for a university campus in Hangzhou, China. The complex holds small and medium academic talks, conferences and exhibitions. Based on the earlier Qiushi Academy, the design combines modern functions with traditional Chinese architectural form. Staggered buildings around a courtyard follow the topography and water system of the site. Reinforced concrete replaces brick and timber, and a long-span truss structure creates a lecture hall without columns. Reflective coated glass under the eaves brings more daylight into the interior.
About U a D
The Architectural Design & Research Institute of Zhejiang University Co., Ltd. (UAD) was established in 1953. Formerly known as Zhejiang University Architectural Design Studio, it is one of the earliest First Class Design Institutes among major national universities. The mission of UAD is to seek “harmonious environment, global vision, design-teaching-research integration and innovation, and the highest professionalism”. UAD adopts the development strategy of “high-grade culture, broad vision, high-efficiency management, high-caliber talents, high professional technologies and high-quality works”, with the academic theory of “Balanced Architecture” as the design guideline.
Award Record
This recognition makes U a D a winner of 6 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2019 - 2020 and the 2022 - 2023 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Cultural Heritage and Culture Industry Design Award
The A' Cultural Heritage Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good designs that preserve, protect, and promote cultural heritage. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to cultural heritage designers, culture industry professionals, cultural heritage specialists and museum designers from all countries. Typical entries include cultural heritage projects, cultural conversation, preservation and restoration and protection projects. The awarded cultural heritage designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/cultural-heritage
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/142335
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/142335
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!142335
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/276490
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
###
Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Qiushi Academy
- Function
- Academy
- Category
- Cultural Heritage and Culture Industry Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Arts and Social Impact
- Colors
- Dim Gray, Dark Slate Gray, Black, Gainsboro and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Uad
The Recognition
- Laureate
- U a D
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2022 - 2023
- Design ID
- #142335
Credits
- Team
- Luo Qingping, Ru Dan, Yin Nong, Cui He, Su Renyi, Xiao Zhibin, Pan Jiafu, Xuan Jican, Wang Zhenggang, Yang Yi, Tian Xiangning and Lu Dehai and others
- Image Credits
- Zhao Qiang
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The staggered buildings around the courtyard perfectly match the topography and water system of the site. The project extracts the dynamic feature from south Chinese architecture and the solemn touch from north Chinese architecture. In this way, the complex well expresses characters of both local architectures and higher educational constructions.
- Inspiration
- The building complex is able to hold small and medium academic talks, conferences, exhibitions, etc. Based on the forerunner Qiushi Academy, the project integrates modern functions and design techniques with Chinese traditional architectural form. The building complex in a symmetric arrangement produces a solemn image, while also conveying asymmetric variations.
- Research
- The designers made bold breakthroughs in architectural form while keeping its traditional style. The variant of hip-and-gable roof with double eaves used in the lecture hall breaks the established forms of traditional temples and palaces, highlighting a majestic touch. For Zhejiang University, the building complex featuring cultural elements is a reproduction of the original one, carrying the academy's history of over one hundred years and inheriting the historical spirit of "seeking truth".
- Challenge
- Since the interior under traditional roof is complex and need to harmonize with the exposed structural system, the arrangement of pipelines and sprinklers posed a great difficulty. In response, the design team merged pipelines and sprinklers with indoor components and partial decorations, thus suiting the firefighting requirements, without affecting the interior decoration effect. Advanced intelligent system not only meets the current practical needs, while also adapting to future development.
- Realization and Technology
- The project mainly uses modern reinforced concrete to replace traditional bricks and wooden materials. Besides, it makes innovations in structures and forms. Modern frame and long-span truss structure are utilized to create a large lecture hall without columns. Traditional timber plates under the eaves are substituted for reflective coated glass, which helpfully introduces more daylight into the interior and also produces a fresh visual effect.
- Operation and Interaction
- The "courtyard-style" layout was a prominent feature of the old academy. The restored master plan from historical records reveals that the old academy included main house, side houses, corridors and an enclosed courtyard. The design team attached great importance to it. Therefore, in the new master planning, "Qiushi Lecture Hall" and "Xiqian Hall" are connected by corridors in an enclosed manner, constituting the modern-day Qiushi Academy.
- Project Duration and Location
- Duartion: 2014.12.01-2017.05.12 Location: West District, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China
- Specifications
- Project area: 8130 square meters Type: Multifunctional building
- Keywords
- Zijingang Campus of Zhejiang University, Qiushi Academy, Building Complex with Cultural Elements, Hip-and-gable Roof with Double Eaves, Tradition
