A.N. X Aesthetics Office Headquarters
- Project created by YINWEN CHEN,
- won 2024, Silver
- from Cultural Buildings
Every building must have a spiritual place, even if it is light, the light is all that exists to give, matter is consumed light, what light makes casts shadows, and shadows belong to light.
——Louis Isadore Kahn
Oriental aesthetics always seems to have some dark, related, and warm forms: one is to stand up, the other is to be born, the third is to be in harmony, and the fourth is to be transferred.
The uniqueness of architecture is people’s most profound memory of the place. Form, space, materials, light and shadow, and climate interweave people’s memory of the place. Unique and rich poetic places make people impressed, and unique experience and memory of the site are the most communicative strategies.
Spiritual stillness
The site of the project is a spiritual place, and the office building is the central carrier of feelings, which needs more spiritual rendering. We need a place for us to reach a quiet state of mind in the mundane world, to talk to the heart, to talk to nature… Spiritual places allow us to calm, soothe…
I hope to subvert the tradition and create a spiritual practice place that can purify the body and mind, as well as a humanized forest-style public office space.
Natural light enters through narrow plexiglass skylights along the roof and is reflected and scattered through the water below, bringing a silvery glow to the smooth concrete surface of the upper roof.
Light is the maker of materials, and the purpose of materials is to cast shadows.
Walking through a series of openings on the porch of the office building brings to mind the dark silence of meditation. Dark shadow lines and holes from precisely defined molds provide fine texture on large wall surfaces.
About YINWEN CHEN
Founder of Seal Design Firm
Entrepreneurship Tutor of Hangzhou Normal University
President of Zhejiang Shanshui Design Group Comprehensive Second Institute
Chen Yinwen established the Inscription Design Firm in 2018. Inscription Design Firm is an architectural firm that focuses on local contemporary architecture as its main research direction, adheres to the foundation of creativity, and ensures the best implementation. With the heart of craftsmanship and the pursuit of daily skills, it manages the beauty of design, embodies complexity in simplicity, refines in moderation, and creates art.
The projects of Yinwen Design Firm are rich and diverse, with design types ranging from urban planning, architectural design, landscape architecture design, decoration design to municipal, lighting, exhibition and public art, cultural and creative design, and EPC general contracting. Several of these projects have received high praise from provincial and municipal leaders, and have been reported on multiple occasions by CCTV and other television stations.
In 2022, the Zhejiang Landscape Design and Construction Industry Association awarded an honorary member to the Seal Design Firm and was invited to give a lecture at the Zhejiang Landscape Design and Construction Industry Association, Chen Yinwen said, “Art cannot change the world, but it can change life. We should adhere to the design attitude of placing equal emphasis on methods and processes, and parallel research and experiments. We should explore in experiments and innovate in research. We should focus on doing every design well and completing every work with our heart
2023 American AIIDA International Innovative Design Award Cultural Architecture Gold Award
TOP50 International Influential Innovative Designer of the Year, AIIDA International Innovative Design Award, USA, 2023
Star Award of China International Innovative Design Works Competition — Award name: Grand Prize of China International Innovative Design Works Competition 2023-2024 (Fujingshan Cemetery, Landscape Design category)
China Architectural Decoration and Design Art Fair work: Yin Yin Song Garden Garden landscape gold medal
2023-2024 Asia Pacific Chinese Design Invitational Competition (Huateng Award) work: Geometric public toilet gold Medal
Asia Pacific Chinese Design Competition Gold Award (Yin Yin Song Garden Landscape, Landscape Design category)
International member of China Europe International Design Association CEIDA
China building Decoration Association expert member