All the buildings and architecture in Sifang Contemporary Art Lake District, also called as “China International Practical Exhibition of Architecture” (CIPEA), can be deemed as “exhibits”. Since 2003, 24 world-renowned architects from 15 countries are invited to this place and they each gained a piece of “barren land” by drawing lots. And on these lands, they need to create under the theme of “balance-rebuilding”.
In this way, the architecture masters who have won the Pritzker Prize (“Nobel” in the architecture industry”) and other global awards are interpreting “balance” using their unique language of architecture. The buildings in the lush green landscape are designed based on the original territories of the mountains, as if they are part of nature, showing a very harmonious atmosphere.
Sifang Art Museum
Sifang Art Museum, the main part of Sifang Contemporary Art Lake District, is designed by Steven Holl, the America’s Best Architect named by US Time Magazine. When designing the Museum, the unique winding corridor structure in China’s architecture has been applied and the main part of the building is high in the air. On the “floating” terrace, one can overlook the entire Nanjing city. Overall, it is an irregular geometry, which breaks the traditional impression that museums are supposed to be in square shape.
Art exhibitions will be held in the Museum regularly under different themes. Most of the time, the works by Olafur Eliasson, Takashi Murakami, Anselm Kiefer, and many other contemporary artists from all over the world, thus attracting a large number of artists and art lovers.
Masterpieces of Global Architects
Apart from Sifang Art Museum, you may bump into other peculiar and thought-provoking buildings nearby the lake district. Those are works by top-notch architects from 15 countries including China, Japan, Finland, the United Kingdom, etc. The ideas of the architects embodied in the buildings are delivered to people through different characteristics.
» San-He Residence
The so-called “San-He” refers to being surrounded by three sides with one side open. Architect Wang Shu placed a square pond in the middle of the house with lotus and red spectacular fish swimming back and forth to create the atmosphere of Chinese garden. The square pond divides the house into two parts from the central axis and the end of the axis takes a towering tree as the main scene, so the tree is integrated with the house. Enclosed only for three sides, the house is not completely closed but there won’t be any insecure feel.
» Boat House
Boat House is a giant ship moored in deep mountains and green forests. It is a villa mainly used accommodation on holidays and vacations.
Two designers from Finland used colors, lines and images of boats to tell stories through the architecture. The wall of green bronze is a perfect match with the mountains and forests behind.
» Six-Room
“Folding” is the highlight of the building. Artist Ai Weiwei has designed all the furniture in the room to be foldable and portable. The sofa, bed, cooking table all have handles or wheels, which can be detached, folded and carried whenever you go. This also caters to the mobile demands of modern people, giving a more flexible definition for “home”. Additionally, the light sources in the “Six-Room” are designed for functions of different areas to make the indoor space colorful and changeable under the natural light at different times of the day.
» A Circle of Interaction
“A Circle of Interaction” is a white circular peninsula building slightly exposed above the water, giving a feeling of lightness and interaction. This is the first time for Kazuyo Sejima, the renowned Japanese architect to create in China. And as exquisite Japanese craftsmanship is required for this architecture, the rigorous architect has a very stringent requirement for every choice of materials with not a single slight deviation allowed.
» Block House
As the name of the building suggests, the “Block House” is not only a solid fort in all directions, but the holes in the wall also look like bullet holes in the fort. To mitigate the impact on the natural landscape, a building volume of the 500 square meters has been divided by the designer Zhang Lei into five cubes that were stacked into four layers and were placed at the same height as the surrounding treetops. What’s more ingenious is that the middle part of the building is designed as a bedroom to feel the mountain and forest while enjoying full privacy.
Away from the hustle and bustle of the city life, you will be totally immersed in the beauty of art and architectural space. In Sifang Lake District, you can feel that every piece of work that has been elaborately created has a shining soul.
