Gold Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2022
Peak Art Sales Center
- A' Design Award 2022 Gold Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- CLIENT: Shanghai PTArchitects
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 29,284
- Verification code 436E44B73D · Verify this award
About Peak Art Sales Center
Peak Art is a sales center located in Xushuguan Town, Suzhou, China. The building answers the fading traces of local history with modern techniques and materials. Three sloping roofs, drawn from traditional Suzhou architecture, are linked by flat sections to form a folded facade. Walls combine hollowed out black bricks with matte pearl blue stone, echoing local tones and textures. A garden style layout encloses an inner courtyard, and large glass surfaces bring the courtyard landscape into the interior.
Peak Art Sales Center by Quincy Li represents a distinguished achievement in contemporary commercial architecture, demonstrating how sales and exhibition facilities can transcend purely functional requirements to become destinations of genuine architectural and experiential significance. The work participates in an ongoing dialogue within East Asian contemporary practice regarding the synthesis of vernacular formal references with modernist transparency and technological sophistication, employing the pitched roofline as a cultural anchor while deploying it at monumental scale with crystalline material expression. The compositional strategy achieves remarkable visual impact through the integration of built form with aquatic landscape, the reflective pool functioning simultaneously as aesthetic amenity, microclimate modifier, and phenomenological device that multiplies the architectural presence through perfect mirroring. Technical accomplishment is evident throughout: the structural system supporting the expansive glazed facades while maintaining visual lightness, the precise integration of linear LED lighting systems that articulate geometric profiles without compromising formal clarity, and the sophisticated coordination between interior illumination levels and exterior atmospheric conditions to create optimal visual effect during the magic hour transition. The thematic content explores fundamental architectural questions regarding shelter and openness, solid and void, tradition and innovation, achieving a synthesis that honors vernacular memory while asserting contemporary technological capability. The landscape integration demonstrates sensitivity to the phenomenology of arrival and approach, the water threshold creating psychological preparation for entry while the mature trees provide temporal depth suggesting established presence rather than recent construction. The work invites contemplation of how architecture can create moments of visual poetry within commercial programs, transforming transactional spaces into opportunities for genuine aesthetic experience and spatial delight.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- On the site, we noticed that Xushuguan's profound cultural and historical heritage and prosperity in the old days. However, in the development and construction of modern cities, the traces of the Xushuguan history and culture are gradually dissipating. Accordingly, we hope to use modern design techniques and materials to extend the cultural and historical lineage of Xushuguan and create a modern architectural form available to interpret its traditional spatial context.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- As for the architectural form, we extracted the sloping roof form from the traditional architecture of Suzhou and Xushuguan in modern techniques to form three sloping roofs. Between two consecutive sloping roofs and one independent sloping roof, the space is linked by a section of flat roof, forming a simple and staggered folded facade profile. It is staggered in height according to function and sight lines. In terms of materials, we adopted stone curtain wall on the mountain wall and roof to strengthen the unity sense of the folding line and use a large glass curtain wall on the part facing the courtyard to greatly incorporate the courtyard landscape into the indoor view and achieve "borrowing scene" and indoor-outdoor interaction, presenting a poetic penetration. For the stone wall, the application of metal inserts delineates the beauty of the wall's planar composition and echoes the application of line elements in oriental architecture.
- Tags
- display center, sloping roof, Suzhou Garden
- Production Technology
- In the traditional architecture of Suzhou and Xushuguan, black bricks are the main material for walls, and in Suzhou gardens, there are also openwork treatments to achieve the effect of borrowing scenery and spatial interaction. For the Peak Art project, the wall surface is also partially treated with hollowed out black bricks. Pearl blue and hollowed out black bricks are close in tone, and the matte surface treatment of pearl blue stone echoes and sets off the rougher surface texture of bricks, echoing the local traditional architectural tones and textures with modern materials and techniques.
- Design Challenge
- Because it is a relatively confined triangular site, the design draws on the Suzhou Garden path to create a sense of spatial hierarchy and playfulness, with the intention of achieving the effect of the small to reflect the large. The buildings are arranged along the long side of the north side as far as possible to leave space for the landscape site; the entrance and the corridor are arranged in an enclosed layout, which shields the noisy and undesirable factors to be developed outside the site and keep the internal space pure. The enclosed veranda, along the urban interface, adopts the translucent U-shaped glass in construction to achieve "ambiguous" communication between the inside and outside of the space.
- Project Duration
- The project started in Sep. 2020 and finished in Apr. 2021 in Suzhou, China
- Operation Flow
- Hopefully, Peak Art can evoke the heritage and revival of the deep historical and cultural heritage of Xushuguan Old Town, as well as its urban memory, realizing the renewal of the urban interface with a garden-style layout and a modern approach to the facade form and bringing warmth and harmony to the neighborhoods.
- Research
- In the architectural design, we have integrated sustainable concepts and green materials, taking local trees for the landscape planting to reflect the diverse ecology of the area. For the interior courtyard, we have used permeable surfaces and landscaping and installed a rainwater harvesting system to reuse water for irrigation.
- Inspiration
- Situated in Xushuguan Town, Suzhou, the project is surrounded by old neighborhoods and undeveloped land, with a noisy and desolate environment. The site is located at a crossroads, with a depth of about 35 meters and a length of about 55 meters. This project is only 500 meters away from the Grand Canal in a straight line. Seated on the east bank of the ancient canal, Xushuguan Town has been prosperous since ancient times and was founded in the Qin Dynasty with a history of more than 2,000 years.
- Image Credits
- Photo Cradits: ArhiExist, Sanlengjing
Colors of Peak Art Sales Center
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We create innovative architectural designs that honor cultural heritage while embracing modern aesthetics. Our expertise spans from sales centers to commercial spaces, integrating sustainable materials and traditional elements with contemporary techniques. Winner of the prestigious A' Design Award.
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