Dali Transformer Factory Theatrical District

URBAN CONTEXT

Sited at the West-south of Erhai Lake, at the edge of ancient citadel of Dali, an abandon transformer factory is transformed into a theatrical park, allowing free interpretation of the past, present and future of Dali. The original workshop, storage and office are turned into theater, mutli-sensual art space and new media caterings. The collage of industrial factory, vernacular architecture, and visual art offers the travelers of Dali a resurrection journey that comes directly from one’s heartbeat. Meanwhile, the resurrection of the city’s history, the awakening of the sub-consciousnesses of the city and the culture mission of Dali are unveiled by an Avant-Garde show of the architecture.

The main workshop of the factory is the tallest building within the ancient city of Dali. While the west side of the roof terrace overlooking Cangshan Mountain, the east has a view over Erhai Lake. The high and low roofs of the factory are connected via pathways and platforms. An undulating industrial roofscape is formed that creates a dialogue with the distant landscape of Cangshan and Erhai. As the Athens plateau gave birth to the Acropolis and the Western culture, the transformer park aims to create an undulating urban plateau that brings Dali and Eastern culture back to live.

THE AVANT-GARDE STAGE OF THE SURREAL CITY

As the architecture “spaces out” from its pragmatic program, it creates “the other space” for illusion. The Heterotopia illusionary space is defined as the “theater.” The “theaters” could happen everywhere: some are within the roof, some are on the roof, some attach to the clerestory, and some grow out of the window to be a theatrical box. Every building in the factory donates part of the building to create the micro Heterotopia, which is a meditation space parallel to reality. As the micro Heterotopias are connected, they create a field beyond reality. As one passes through the field, one passes through the section of the city and the section of daily life.

THE TRANSFORMER FACTORY TRANSFORMED

The guard’s house: One room with one wall, three rooms with two courtyards, and four rooms with five courtyards are the archetypes of the vernacular Baizu courtyard house in Dali. The remodeling of the guard’s house departs from creative analysis of Baizu courtyard. The design cuts through the original building to reveal the internal logic of the residential complex and use glass surface to complete the original volume. Programmatic conversions from residential complex to micro museum and, from museum to a new-media restaurant, are what the project is aiming for.

Iron workshop converts to crafts showroom: the Baizu house’s structure archetype uses bearing wall in the back and light frame in the front to allow for openings to the house. While keeping the rough stone bearing wall and steel frame of the original building, the design replaces the dilapidated roof and street front with partial curtain wall and partial remaining stone wall. The structure logic of the building is unveiled, and so as the industrial past of the building. Glass storefront windows are also introduced at the spot where the old windows are. While the old industrial setting becomes a backdrop for the display of the crafts, the windows frame the display with spotlights, dramatizing the new urban life.

Storage converts to the Heaven’s Bookstore: keep the original structure, replace the stucco wall with brick-facing wall and keep the windows and doors in place. Resurfacing the structure with reflective material to make the structure disappear in space. Create a primitive and heavenly image for the bookstore.

Workshop and dormitory converts to a film archive: as the film archive needs a dark space, the project uses the house-within-house strategy to build a thin architecture along the surface of the building and meanwhile, having the thin architecture shelter the film archive beneath it. As the project keeps the supporting structure intact, the first-floor exterior walls are turned to a series of theatrical boxes, and the second-floor walls are converted into a thin “line theater,” on top of that, the building becomes a “rooftop theater.” The theatrical boxes can be moved along industrial rails to the open space in the park. As the “theatrical boxes” combine and open up indifferent ways, they can put up an exterior theatrical-box-show. The boxes can also be moved across to the large transformer theater to exchange shows happening within the large theater.

The assemblage building: The orthogonal structure is cut through by light and forces from the city. It creates several industrial fragments with tremendous potential for experimental shows. The irregular space penetrates from exterior to interior, and it creates four theatrical zones for the old assemblage building.
a. Heart-beat Factory: In the daytime, the Heat-beat Factory is a suspended garden—an open market surrounded by flowers from Dali; in the nighttime, it is an enormous electronic showroom composed by music radios that broadcast your heartbeat. With the help of Holographic Projection, Yarn Screen Projection and 3-D projection technique, the space aims to create a supper party for visitors in the transformer park, as a dramatic conclusion for the day.
b. Mirroring Bar: The mirror bar is a surreal illusionary space. It is both a bar and a theatrical space about the bar. Spontaneous shows are happening from time to time in the bar. One is supposed to observe oneself again and again in the show, and sees the multiple reflections of oneself. The show would help participants to find their “true selves” in the lost space.
c. Awakening Space: The awakening space is a place to select puppets and perform with the puppets selected. Puppets are seen as incarnations of human—puppets are the frozen humans who lost their souls. Numerous puppets, left alone at a flatten lonely space, are waiting to be selected and awaken by the right person. As puppets are selected, they will be brought to the Garden of Deity to perform and experiment true life again. Only then, they will be awakened. The space of awakening reminds people of irreplaceable companionship in life.
d. Mood Hospital: The mood hospital is a place to face and cure one’s mood, in a theatrical way. As the audiences are walking in an electrical rain, meandering in the mood plaza, they can observe the atlas of their moods in their mood umbrella, and they can also control and adjust their moods accordingly. Mood ward is a space that combines the technique of Yarn Screen Projection and Action Capture to have the audiences perform with their moods. The inspiration from the space is to have people respect their moods and treat them with indulgence.

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL LOGIC

Interior space: the interior of the transformer theater is composed by four theatrical zones: Mirroring Bar, Heart-beat Factory, Mood Hospital, and Awakening Space. The four zones are both theatrical and commercial spaces, and they can be separated or combined. A series of suspended spaces penetrates the four zones, offering a God’s eye for the audiences to see the show.
Exterior space: a series of zigzag exterior open space are created by a combination of rooftops, slops and pathways cantilevered from the main structure. It offers a unique space for visitors to experience the city, or meandering around and waiting for immersive shows to happen. One can also enjoy the slow time of Dali in the Heaven’s Cafe overlooking distant landscapes. The interior suspension space is connected to the exterior pathways. The inclined spatial division within the orthogonal structure grid creates an impact for the space, and it makes the visitors experience the tension within the industrial structure.

PROJECT INFORMATION

Project Name: Dali Transformer Factory Theatrical District
Client: OCT Group, Dali
Project Operator: E-Vision Culture Co., Ltd
Area: 13,358 sqm
GFA: 9,751 sqm
Completion: May, 2023
Address: No.3 Pingdeng Rd, Dali, Yunnan, China
General Contractor: China Railway 18th Bureau Group Co., LTD.

Architecture Design: Atelier Alter Architects
Interior Design & FF&E: Atelier Alter Architects
Leading Architects: Yingfan Zhang, Xiaojun Bu
Team: Zhenwei Li, Ping Jiang, Si Miao, Teng Xue, Xinchen Yang, Yalan Tan, Jiaming Mei, Lidong Song, Li Jiang, Chunbiao Cao, Zhen Ni, Xiaoyan Liu, Jiayan Duan

LDI: Beijing Institute of Architectural Design Co., Ltd
Architect on Record: Run Zhou, Kai Qin
Team: Architecture: Wei Kong, Yan Pei, Han Bai | Structure: Wenfeng Li, Xingwang Li, Jun Liu |Mechanical & Electrical Engineering: Feng Qi, Lei Pei, Cheng Zhang, Yuting Li, Lin Jie | Sound: Jinjing Chen, Shuyun Wu

Interior Contractor: Guangzhou Bosha Institute of Architectural Design Co.,Ltd.
Leader: Jian Song
Team: Zhijun Zheng, Li Wen, Zhiyuan Liang, Junkan Wei; Secondary Mechanical & Electrical Engineering: Xinzhi Chen, Yuyan Xie

Landscape: YZscape
Lead Landscape Architect: Fanyu Meng
Team: Miaomiao Guan, Teng Wang, Zhenyu Wang, Zihan Zhao, Yue Hao, Ying Zhou

New Media Art: MOUJITI ART+TECH
Project Leader: Jun Fei
Team: Yu Qiu, Dan Xing, Jianyun Yan, Jinghai Sha, Kaiwen Zheng, Lei Shang, Yihan Sun, Sijing Wu, Tianze Tong, Yining Gong, Yafei Yang, Junjie Pan, XiaoqXi Huang, Yi Kang, Peng Wang, Renqing Wang, Jingyi Feng, Qin Wang
Stage Design: Atelier Alter Architects PLLC; MOUJITI ART+TECH; Tao Xiangju Film and Television Studio in Ningbo Xiangbao Cooperation Zone
Lighting: GD Lighting Design
Signage Consultant: MOUJITI ART+TECH; Degradation Design Laboratory
Curtain Wall Consultant: Chongqing Yinqiao Engineering Design (Group) Co., Ltd
Photographor: Xia Zhi , Highlite Images, Jin Weiqi, Atelier Alter Architects
Video: Xia Zhi Pictures
Photo Copyright: Atelier Alter Architects