#publicarchitecture

Detalle de nuestra propuesta para la rehabilitación del Palacio del Duque del Infantado.

Beijing Library has received two distinctions at the AIA Hong Kong Honors & Awards 2025. Opened in December 2023, it ranks among the world’s largest public reading spaces. The project tests how libraries can serve as social infrastructure. Its design combines spatial flexibility, environmental responsiveness, and accessibility within Beijing’s new sub-center.

The building’s layered canopy structure creates a permeable boundary between interior and public space. Image © Yumeng Zhu Design Concept

The structure rejects monumentality. Instead, it uses layered reading zones and interconnected atriums. These encourage movement and informal gathering. This reflects a global shift in architectural design. The Beijing Library enables visual continuity between interior spaces and surrounding public areas.

The internal space features a forest of slender columns supporting an undulating ceiling canopy, creating zones for reading and circulation. Image © Yumeng Zhu Materials & Construction

Steel and glass form the façade. Both materials were sourced locally to support contextual dialogue. Prefabricated components reduced on site waste and sped up assembly. This approach aligns with low impact standards for building materials. It also supports efficiency in large civic buildings.

The building’s layered canopy elements create a rhythmic visual pattern against the sky, while vegetation integrates the structure into its surroundings. Image © Yumeng Zhu Sustainability

The project won the Sustainable Design Award. It uses passive cooling, daylight harvesting, and efficient mechanical systems. These meet regional benchmarks for low-carbon public architecture. More on such strategies appears in ArchUp’s sustainability coverage.

Urban Impact

The Beijing Library sits in a fast developing district. It influences pedestrian flow and nearby construction. Beyond storing books, it functions as a daily public room. ArchUp’s cities section often explores how such spaces shape urban dynamics.

Architectural Snapshot: As digital reading grows, can physical spaces like the Beijing Library still sustain meaningful human presence?

A multi-level civic library in Beijing merges passive environmental systems with daylight rich interiors to redefine shared learning in the digital age.

The reading hall’s structural system doubles as spatial organizer, with columns supporting an undulating ceiling that diffuses daylight. Image © Yumeng Zhu

ArchUp Editorial Insight

The article presents Beijing Library as a civic experiment in post-digital public space, framed through award recognition rather than independent critique. It relies on institutional validation AIA Hong Kong as its primary legitimacy, echoing a broader trend where architectural journalism substitutes honors for analysis. While the text accurately notes spatial strategies and material choices, it avoids questioning the library’s actual public accessibility, operational model, or socio political context within China’s urban governance. Still, its concise focus on passive environmental systems offers a rare technical anchor amid celebratory noise. Yet without addressing who truly uses such grand civic gestures and who doesn’t the narrative risks becoming archival decor rather than architectural documentation.

The recreation facility constructed at the northernmost part of Central Park is a beautiful combination of built form and natural landscape. The project, which has been designed as an all-year-round attraction, features a swimming pool, an ice rink, and a public park along with other amenities for the public use and it is located in a way that the park's natural slope is taken advantage of so that the landscape goes over the building's roof. The design of the building places the existing ecology and community access rather than the isolation of facilities at the forefront.

Project Overview

The facility covered a significant part of the northern park area, and the earth was cut away in such a way that only a small part of its volume was seen above the ground, and thus, the visual impact on the park landscape was greatly reduced. The roof shows the natural land that the building occupies and allows walking and planting there as well. The architecture consists of locker rooms, and restrooms for skaters and swimmers, as well as the public circulation that opens up to the landscape. The design shows that architecture can be in such a large scale, at the same time, responding to both terrain and urban life.

Design Logic

The idea of the design places the shapes of the building underground so that the landscape can continue without interruption. A big glass wall not only makes the interior of the building visible to and accessible from the outdoors but also links the movement of the visitors inside the building with that on the boardwalk and marsh outside. The use of shadows, overhangs, and natural ventilation are some of the ways the building conserves energy passively while at the same time; there is still a feeling of openness and visual continuity between the building and the nature around it.

Table: Key Programmatic Elements ElementFunctionDesign RoleGreen Roof & TerrainPublic circulation and plantingExtends the park surface over the buildingPool / Rink HallSwimming in summer, skating in winter, green lawn in shoulder seasonsFlexible program embedded within landscapeBoardwalk & MarshEcological corridor and visitor pathRe‑connects park topography and water systems Materiality and Environmental Strategy

The material palette takes advantage of the local stone, wood from responsible sources and high quality glass to bring down both embodied and operational carbon footprints. The glass windows allow the interior to see and be ventilated by nature but still keep glare and bird collisions at bay. The planting on the roof and the reduction of the area covered with impervious surfaces are ways of managing stormwater and restoring nature. The use of materials in the project gives a fresh view of how they can be both narrative and sustainability performers.

Urban and Social Context

The building, which is extre­mely close to one of the most popular parks in the world, puts recreation model more into the city and landscape integration than stand-alone equipment. The design, by ways of paths, gardens and water, holds up public access, urban ecosystem and park life. This layering of program, landscape and city life is what the new design for public space is all about.

Architectural Insights

For both architects and students alike the project is a demonstration of how large-scale public buildings can be in harmony with, rather than in contrast to, the landscape. It is stressed that shape, use and place must be brought into line at the very beginning of the process. The combination of program flexibility, ecological strategy and material clarity makes the project a relevant study in sustainable research and practice.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The Davis Center, situated at Harlem Meer, within the Central Park area, is a perfect example of the architecturally and the landscape blended perfectly. The design, by burying the building on the slope of the park, allows for a continuous flow of the green roof and the topography, thus the public pathway, the seasonal pool, and the ice rink are all connected to nature. Glazing and open layouts all together furnish visual and physical connections, while also using sustainable materials and adopting passive methods that bring about a lesser environmental impact. The project is a living example of how recreation infrastructure can not only integrate but also coexist with urban biodiversity, thus granting both ecological and community access. It poses a challenge for the architects to provide a different concept of embedding program in the landscape which has the win-win combination of balancing flexibility, public interaction, and environmental sensitivity in large-scale civic projects.

Conclusion

The Davis Center at Harlem Meer is a conscious example of the union of the two realms, architecture, and landscape. The facilities are dug into the ground, the ecological flows are supported, and the public access is provided, thus the project transcends the common recreation typologies. It provokes thinking about the future public architecture that may serve the environment, community, and urban context simultaneously.

The photography is by Richard Barnes.

Explore the Latest Architecture Exhibitions & Conferences

ArchUp offers daily updates on top global architectural exhibitions, design conferences, and professional art and design forums. Follow key architecture competitions, check official results, and stay informed through the latest architectural news worldwide. ArchUp is your encyclopedic hub for discovering events and design-driven opportunities across the globe.

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The architecture world turns its attention to Seoul as Heatherwick Studio unveils the Humanise Wall, a striking 90-metre-long twisted steel installation serving as the centrepiece for the upcoming Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. Rising four storeys high in Songhyeon Green Plaza, this monumental structure is designed not just as a visual spectacle, but as a catalyst for public reflection on the emotional and psychological impacts of urban design. By blending large-scale graphic panels, artworks, and examples of architecture from around the world, the wall encourages visitors to explore how buildings influence human perception and behaviour. The project exemplifies how contemporary architectural interventions can spark conversations around city life, spatial quality, and the role of design in daily experience, making it an important reference for architects and urban planners alike.

Project Overview

The Humanise Wall is a twisted, steel-framed installation spanning 90 metres and four storeys. Its primary purpose is to serve as an interactive focal point for the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, launching on 26 September. The wall’s design merges structural innovation with conceptual storytelling, employing two contrasting steel finishes: a chunky red steel frame twisting over a central opening and a secondary black steel layer enveloping parts of the structure. Visitors will experience a visual narrative that blends text, images, and artworks while walking along the plaza.

Dimensions and Materials ParameterDetailsLength90 metresHeight4 storeysPrimary MaterialSteel (Red and Black finishes)Secondary MaterialsGraphic panels, artworks, building imagesLocationSonghyeon Green Plaza, Seoul Design Concept and Layout

The twisting geometry of the wall functions as a visual anchor while inviting visitors to reconsider the urban landscape around them. The central opening creates a frame for the surrounding cityscape, while the wall’s curvature generates shifting perspectives that change with the viewer’s position. Supplementing the main structure, 24 smaller wall sections are being constructed by selected creatives, including internationally renowned firms such as Kengo Kuma and Associates, MAD, and Kéré Architecture, alongside fashion designer Stella McCartney. This combination of large-scale installation and multiple smaller interventions allows the biennale to explore a spectrum of interpretations on human-scale architecture.

Interaction and Experience

The wall’s graphics include text, images, and building examples that embody the Humanise campaign. Highlighted buildings, such as Bureau de Change’s The Interlock and The Broad museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, showcase ideals of human-centred design. As visitors move along the plaza, the interplay of steel forms and visual narratives engages multiple senses, encouraging reflection on how the built environment shapes emotional and cognitive responses. By transforming a public park into an interactive gallery, the wall bridges architecture, urbanism, and public engagement in a singular experience.

Contributors and Collaborators RoleContributorDesign StudioHeatherwick StudioArchitectural ContributorsKengo Kuma and Associates, MAD, Kéré ArchitectureOther CollaboratorsStella McCartney, Seoul Biennale TeamLocationSonghyeon Green Plaza, SeoulEventSeoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2025

Architectural Analysis

The design logic of the Humanise Wall revolves around creating a dialogue between humans and the urban fabric. Its twisting form challenges conventional perceptions of scale, while the red and black steel layers provide visual contrast that emphasizes depth and movement. The four-storey height and 90-metre length generate a commanding presence, yet the central opening ensures the structure remains permeable and connected to its environment. By juxtaposing large-scale steel with graphic panels, the installation merges architectural form and storytelling, highlighting how materiality, geometry, and spatial composition can shape perception and emotional engagement in urban contexts.

Project Importance

The Humanise Wall demonstrates how large-scale architectural interventions can foster public reflection and engagement. It provides a platform for architects, urban designers, and creatives to explore questions of human-scale design, visual narrative, and the emotional impact of buildings. By creating a structure that encourages dialogue and sensory experience, the project contributes to contemporary thinking on urbanism and placemaking, illustrating the relevance of architecture as a social and cultural medium. Its timing is particularly significant, reflecting a global interest in human-centred design and the role of public installations in shaping collective perception of cities.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The Humanise Wall exemplifies an architectural project where scale, material, and narrative converge to provoke critical reflection. The twisting steel and layered graphics engage viewers visually and conceptually, but one might question whether the installation could overwhelm its surroundings or distract from the broader urban context. Nevertheless, its ability to stimulate conversation around architecture and urbanism highlights its value, pointing toward future projects that integrate public engagement with spatial experimentation and dynamic storytelling.

Conclusion

The Humanise Wall in Seoul is more than a structural feat; it is a conversation starter about the quality of urban design and the psychological effects of buildings on the public. By combining twisted steel forms, graphic storytelling, and multi-sensory engagement, Heatherwick Studio has crafted a space that bridges architecture and human experience. It encourages visitors to reconsider the role of form, scale, and materiality in everyday city life. The project also sets a precedent for integrating interactive installations into public spaces, demonstrating the potential for architecture to engage communities while elevating urban discourse. As cities continue to expand, the Humanise Wall illustrates the impact of design that prioritizes human experience, offering lessons for architects and urban planners aiming to create more empathetic, thoughtful, and responsive urban environments.

Explore the Latest Architecture Exhibitions & Conferences

ArchUp offers daily updates on top global architectural exhibitions, design conferences, and professional art and design forums. Follow key architecture competitions, check official results, and stay informed through the latest architectural news worldwide. ArchUp is your encyclopedic hub for discovering events and design-driven opportunities across the globe.

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A Major Highlight Ahead of the Biennale’s Opening As the 5th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism prepares to open on September 26, renowned British designer Thomas Heatherwick, the event’s General Director, has unveiled one of this year’s most anticipated works an expansive outdoor installation titled “Wall of Public Life”, to be staged in Songhyeon Green Plaza in the heart of Seoul. Project Details - Number of sections: 24 artistic pieces - Dimensions of each piece: 2.4 × 4.8 meters (7.9 × 15.7 feet) - Contributors: Architects, designers, and creatives from various disciplines - Placement: Facing a monumental installation called “Humanise Wall”, which spans 90 meters (295 feet) in length and rises four stories high

Fatih Mosque Square in Istanbul as seen recently, where history blends with daily life. The installation aims to reimagine building facades, making them more creative and engaging rather than settling for bland, repetitive designs. The Vision Behind the Work Heatherwick explained that the purpose of “Wall of Public Life” is to challenge soulless, monotonous architecture that dominates many cities, and to inspire developers to embrace more human-centered and innovative ideas that can enrich the urban living experience.

Aerial view of Fatih Mosque and the surrounding historic district in the heart of Istanbul. Notable Contributor: Francis Kéré Among the prominent participants is Francis Kéré, recipient of the 2022 Pritzker Prize, who envisioned walls as bridges of connection rather than barriers. - First wall: Crafted from Korean pine, a material deeply rooted in local history and culture. - Second wall: Inspired by the traditional building methods of his home village of Tiébélé, reinterpreted with Korean clay. Kéré’s design conveys a shared human story, emphasizing that true architecture grows from the community and belongs to it.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight