"THE MAOHAUS"
“The MaoHaus”文化项目位于北京板桥南巷,人美印刷社正对面。建筑处在北京老胡同钉子路口的中央。在建筑的立面设计上,我们试图延续胡同里的四合院门头的尺寸,并在造型上模拟一种风动的效果。立面的材料和建造上,采用一种新型的高强纤维混凝土(UHPC),从而让沉重的混个凝土材质在风动的造型中变得很轻盈。
建筑外墙后面是文化建筑的入口,我们希望在一天24小时营造不同的光线效果。在白天的时候,可以看到立面上的一些孔洞,开洞的大小延续着曲面的造型。而在夜晚,灯光透过建筑立面产生一个头像的效果,并在胡同的地面上产生微妙的光影关系。而这个头像正是毛主席头像的艺术处理效果;而就是在这里---人美印刷社,曾经印刷了大量的毛主席头像。这样的一个后现代的艺术设计把我们又带回了历史……
Drawing upon local and historical context, “MaoHaus” references the adjacent print shop across the hutong alley as a primary conceptual driver. Using the block print grid as a basic guide the work subtly hides six faces of Chairman Mao. This is not without deep intent as the nearby print shop was one of the locations to produce many of the famous Mao portraits during the 70s in China. The undulating surface is meant to both hide the face, revealing itself only from certain angles and more strongly at night, but also to suggest that the communist party of China is becoming a more adaptable and fluid entity permitting flexing to a modern and global society while still maintaining some of Mao‘s original principles.
The piece is 12m wide and 7 m tall, composed of only six individual 6cm thick sheets. Ultra-high performance concrete was used for this project creating a strange thinness and fluidity to a material none for cold hardness. Advanced fabrication technique are further utilized to create the very large and thin sheets. In a way, the material and technical adaptation can be seen as yet another metaphor for China's strong drive into the future as a player on the global field.