LOCATION Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

CLIENT Local Landscape, Guangzhou Taikoo

YEAR 2024.06

Programs Exhibition 630m²

PRINCIPLE  Roy Yin

TEAM

Eva Li, Jiantao Li, Mengting Xiang, Jia Wang, Pan Boyu

Photo Credit: Roy Yin, Local Landscape, Guangzhou Taikoo

Consultants:  Local Landscape, GyreCraft, Chizi Space

Maritime Echoes: The Story of Stone exhibition in Guangzhou takes “stone” and “water”as its narrative elements, focusing on China’s unique maritime culture and the local crafts and traditional culture, aim of promoting the inheritance of the culture of the Maritime Silk Road and traditional culture. The exhibition brings together more than forty works, covering a wide range of media including video, photography, calligraphy, sculpture, furniture, live performance, academic research, books, and a number of world-class and national intangible cultural heritages.

The design of the exhibition is inspired by the “submerged sea scripture”. Starting from the outdoor space, the blue “sea scripture” on the ground guides the audience through a series of navigational processes, such as entering the harbor, setting sail, steering, and avoiding the reefs, until they enter the exhibition space, experiencing a unique journey that is just like a voyage on the sea. 

Considering the load-bearing constraints of the venue, the diversity of exhibits, the efficiency of construction, environmental protection and other factors, we chose XPS board, an environmentally friendly thermal insulation material commonly used in the construction field, as the main construction material. Its closed-cell honeycomb structure and color make it lightweight, high compression resistance, stable and thermal insulation, meet the processing, transportation, installation and aesthetic requirements, and through the combination of wood to achieve support and glue-free fixing.

The blue wall follows the structure of TaiKoo Hui’s glass box, forming a U-shaped exhibition space with multiple entrances to ensure free viewing. The hollowed-out design of the exhibition wall not only blurs the boundaries of space, but also allows audience to vaguely glimpse the scene behind the wall, as if exploring the underwater world through the varying depths of seawater, creating a mysterious and romantic atmosphere.

The overlapping of blue materials and hollowed-out design echo the ocean, creating a blend of“waves” and “stone”effect , showing rich blue variations under sunlight.The design also incorporates Quanzhou seaside elements such as fishing boat lights, fishing nets, lighthouses, boat benches, flags, rubble, etc., which makes the academic exhibition more approachable and allows different audiences to have an immersive experience of this millennia-spanning cultural exchange and dissemination. Initiate exchanges with culture and connect regions with the sea.After the exhibition, the XPS board and wood were recycled for use in other projects.