GreenMonster Lab in Beijing by BANDe Architects.

BANDe Architects have completed the multi-faceted cultural destination GreenMonster Lab in Beijing. Occupying a 5,000sqm basement level of the Kuntai Jiarui Cultural Center, the lab encompasses an exhibition centre, traditional hall, bookstore, brand room, and functional spaces for entertainment and leisure.

Being at basement level complicated the conditions of the site, with multiple fire shutters, firewalls and fire doors. Extensive pipelines occupying one third of the ceiling height make the expansive space feel smaller than it is. The architects worked toward re-arranging the interior and embracing its convoluted layout. Structural columns and pillars were transformed into intentional design elements, some made thicker and others enclosed with semi-transparent steel mesh.

“The overall feeling can be summarized into one word – messy. We were trying to find a pattern that governs the space. This process took us a while. Slowly, we find that the ‘messy’ of this space is also one of its characteristics,” explain BANDe.

Voids between columns became blocks of negative space, with the architects approaching the vast interior like its own neighbourhood. The cumbersome fire zones were also embraced and enhanced, heightening fire shutters and thickening a firewall. BANDe also regard the complexity of the pipeline network as a rich, layered element, exposing it rather than attempting to cover it up.

BANDe inserted a set of timber structures inspired by traditional Chinese cultural pavilions, with historical relics from around the world displayed within. As visitors descend an escalator into the lab, the timber is the first thing they see, with the structure meant to evoke both the grandeur of an exhibition hall and the liveliness of a market. The warm-toned timber serves to contrast the cool interior.

The architects refer to the rest of the space as the ‘Craftsmen shop’, with the mesh-covered columns both displaying and housing offices for merchant staff for visitors to engage with. BANDe describe “an effect of street and ally, which enables visitors and dealers to have a better place for communicating, exchanging, and learnings.”

[Images courtesy of BANDe Architects. Photography by Weiqi Jin.]