Nan Yan Fang
Memories wrapping around the future Silicon-Alley
Client
Nanjing City Government
Typology
Architecture, Identity
Year
2019
Constructed in the traditional Siheyuan formation, and located at the intersection between Yangjiangjun Alley and Beiting Alley in the city of Nanjing, the old Nanjing Cigarette Factory is home to cigarettes as much as it is home to the misty substance cigarettes produce.
To embody the industrial system of ‘one body and two wings’ and reiterate the factory’s strong imagery and association to the notion of ‘smoke,’ the design references the ‘City Plan of Nanjing,’ which was conceived by the Nationalist Government in Nanjing in 1929, namely its requirement for new buildings to be constructed with the aid of Western technology whilst maintaining a Chinese ideological core. In doing so, the design reinterprets Eastern spatial aesthetics in a modern architectural language. The complex will be buttressed by three main concepts—the Alley, the Garden, and the Courtyard, to infuse within the community the innovations of the creative industry, and serve as household space for designers domestic or from abroad, and social space that invokes nostalgia for the people of Nanjing that spans across the senses.
The factory, revitalised as NanYanFang , will retain its industrial genes and street culture, all the while extending its reach to the surrounding community and beyond as an interactive entity, envisioning a Silicon-Valley-esque future as a hub of creativity, and reigniting the passion of an old town.
