Month: January 2018

Idea: building – plant

Detached dwelling project “El Bosque 161”. Valencia. Developed by Mano de Santo Architecture Team.

MaoHaus is an experimental façade piece exploring historical context, material potentials, novel fabrication and performative qualities within architecture. Taking the simple frame and edge condition of the existing structure, the façade enters the space of the hutong as a flowing fabric. This fluidity is expressed through the conventionally rigid material of concrete questioning inherent perceptions of materiality through formal expression. Beyond the undulating form, the perforations of the surface serve to filter light, during the day, rays of sunlight enter the vestibule, and at night the precisely tuned apertures reveal a triptych of Chairman Mao’s prototypical portrait. The expression of Chairman Mao within the façade is a nod to the historical context of the site. The work is located in a Hutong alley in central Beijing adjacent to The People’s Art House Print Shop, this workshop was once one of the primary producers of the Chairman’s now iconic image.

This project is located on the first floor of Infinitus Tower by the shoreline of Taiping Lake in Shanghai.