——翟永明

▲白夜宽窄巷子老店/图源白夜

Creating a space is not only a physical shelter, but also a spiritual and humanistic shelter. For the Chengdu literary community, WHITE NIGHT, founded by Zhai Yongming in the 1990s, is just such a shelter for poetry and art.

A  cultural salon with more than 20 years of time, witnessing the city's young artists in their prime. Poets, writers, photographers, directors and musicians gather here, where their hearts and minds converge and talk about their ideals in life. Artists such as Zhou Chunya, He Duoling, Zhang Xiaogang and Liu Jiakun were all regulars at White Night before they became famous.

In the era of Chengdu's literary and artistic boom, with White Night as the starting point, the world has been vast since then, and art and community have grown together here.

Poetry, flowing in the air of White Night, is like finding a place to settle down in the steel forest, giving an outlet to the emotions hidden deep inside.

In the twenty years since its birth, White Night returned to Yulin with its third new store.

The store site was chosen on Fang Hua Street, a small two-story office building surrounded by old residential buildings from the 1970s, which became the protagonist of this return renovation.

Once functioning as a community police station, the first floor space accommodated the cultural activities of nearby residents, with a brick and mortar structure with a dilapidated facade, lack of care for the greenery of the site, and overgrown weeds.

What kind of attitude should White Night take to return to the Yulin community is a question that the design team, a9a rchitects, has been constantly thinking about since they took over the project. The White Night was to retain the independent attributes and characteristics of White Night as a "cultural memory" of the city, but also to achieve a high degree of organic integration with the community environment.

▲鸟瞰图/摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

Reading rooms, small theaters and showrooms, shared spaces, coffee and bars, and the need for these composite attributes were the design mission statement given by Zhai Yongming.

Artistic director, He Duoling, agreed with a9a rchitecture: White Night's new space is never the master of this community environment, but an outsider of this environment. We take the initiative to lower our posture and requirements in order to maximize the symbiosis with the community.  

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In consideration of the public benefit premise and design principles, the original brick structure of the main building's small L-shaped building was retained. A high glass gallery, bar corner and new art space were added to the exterior of the main building.

▲室内轴侧图/?a9a建筑设计事务所

The closed office space on the first floor was opened up and transformed into a brand new cafe and bar.

The black boxes are placed in the corridor on the second floor as the entrance guide for the dining bar, and a book bar on the other side.

摄影：邹邹 ?一筑一事

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

A new bar corner was added at the corner with large open windows. The cluttered site greenery was regrouped and new architectural spaces for exhibitions, salons, and lectures were added.

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

In order to preserve the original trees on the site, the building block was cut into three parts from the distribution trajectory of the trees.

The retention of the trees not only continues the original spatial memory of the residents, but as a new miniature public space, it will also create more new fond memories of the community.

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

摄影：邹邹 ?一筑一事

As an art space for exhibitions and events, the initial design was abandoned and lowered from two stories to one, and then the interior space was sunk 60cm to ensure undisturbed light for the residents on the second floor next door.

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

An open space next to White Night where the community chess team played chess for ten years. We added a small triangular-shaped promenade to continue this community memory.

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

摄影：邹邹 ?一筑一事

The glass gallery serves as a transition between the interior and exterior, and also allows sunlight on the first floor. Large-scale art works can be placed here.

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

Simple and clean body blocks with black boxes interspersed in white architecture. The pure interior spaces are decorated with black wood panels and black boxes hold artworks. The main building is like a glass box that locks the light.

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

The small window on the second floor of the building facing the nearby residential building is completely closed with a solid wall, with only small windows on the side, and is designed with a sash window to avoid sound and sight disturbanc

The night is the highlight of the white night, sitting at the bar corner, raising a glass of wine to write poetry in a world of wine, building another utopia within a utopia.

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

Old people, children, artists, young people, tourists, all kinds of people are drawn into White Nights and become new members growing together with the old community.

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

With salons, painting posters, art installations, exhibitions, and a small courtyard in between, fresh art events converge to keep White Night bursting with new content and ideas at all times.

摄影：苏哲维 ?存在建筑

The life of White Night is redefined, it is like a seed where users generate rich behaviors and activities to help White Night grow. As the White Night becomes a museum of community memories, the emotional memories generated here are passed down from generation to generation.

During the design process of White Night, we observed that the cabinet used by the community chess team near White Night was already broken.

In order to respect the community atmosphere and protect the living habits of the residents, we decided: to design a new cabinet for the community chess team for free.

* 技术图纸

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