Shuyang County in eastern China, which is now part of the city of Suqian, is associated with the history of calligraphy. It is located in Jiangsu province, where the painter Zheng Xie, one of the reformers of this art, was born and lived in the 18th century. The architects used his creative method as the basis for the project for the Shuyang Art Gallery, dedicated specifically to calligraphy.
The rectangular gallery complex is located among fields on the outskirts of the city. The calligraphy metaphor begins with the paving of the courtyard with various shades of gray granite: it resembles ink spreading on paper.
The three main exhibition halls symbolize the three parts of a calligraphic work: paper, ink and print. The most conspicuous and striking case is inspired by the red print. This is a curved volume lined with burgundy bricks from Yixing County of the same Jiangsu province - the historical center of ceramic production. Three types of masonry give the complex shape of the facades even more variety.
The smaller volumes, denoting the mascara tiles, are coated with a dark gray fluorocarbon paint, giving them a stone-like appearance. At ground level, their facades end with a reverse fillet, which should convey the seriousness necessary for calligraphy.
The paper is symbolized by the enclosures covered with prefabricated concrete façade panels. Their surface is lined with vertical grooves to resemble rice paper. At the very bottom, the façade does not touch the ground, which means the calligrapher's “alienation”. Another important element of the project is a reservoir; he, like the transitions between the buildings, camera angles and abrupt changes in the "character" of the space should quickly distract the visitor from everyday worries and tune in to the perception of calligraphy.
The interiors are almost devoid of supports to make it possible to easily change the structure of the exhibition. In the main, red building, light wells penetrate all its levels.
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zooming 1/3 Shuyang Art Gallery Photo © Zhao Qiang
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zooming 2/3 Shuyang Art Gallery Photo © Zhao Qiang
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zooming 3/3 Shuyang Art Gallery Photo © Zhao Qiang
