MULTIMEDIA PAVILON, JINHUA ARCHITECTURE PARK

Contractworld award 09 Shortlist, Bauwelt prize 09 Shortlist, AR Award 2010 Commendation

Location: Jinhua, China

Program: Multimedia and event space

Status: Completed 10/07

Size: 67 sqm

Budget: withheld

Client: Jindong New District Construction Committee

Architecture: Erhard An-He Kinzelbach

Collaborators: Fake Design / Ai Weiwei, Beijing (Construction administration, site management), Hou Xinhua, Beijing (Structural engineering)

The Multimedia Pavilion is part of Jinhua Architecture Park, located in the City of Jinhua, China. The park was masterplanned by chinese artist and curator Ai Weiwei who invited 17 architects from 7 different countries, including Herzog de Meuron and Toshiko Mori, to design different pavilions in the park. The park complements Jindong New District and stretches over 2 kilometers along Yiwu River, at an average width of 80 meters.

The design interprets multimedia in its broadest sense and the programmatic content aims at addressing the individual as well as the collective application of multimedia. In the multimedia pavilion, the collective experience is not restricted to the interaction in virtual space, but its spatial qualities facilitate actual and physical, collective and public gathering.

The screening of a movie, with both sound and moving image, constitutes the most basic form of multimedia, with a high potential for collective experience. The open air cinema maximizes this potential. The internal screening area can be used for other types of projections such as video and sound installations that typically constitute a more private experience than a public film screening. Nonetheless, the collective seating area facilitates interaction among different visitors.

Two idealized projector cones act as space constituting elements which deform an initially tubular box. The virtual space of the projecting light becomes the generating moment for the physical space. The single surface is transformed into an ergonomic landscape that renders additional furniture unnecessary. As a result, a versatile and polyvalent space serves not only the various aspects of the multimedia experience, but also as a gathering and lounging space in the middle of the park, superimposing the digital with the physical realm.