The Guoqing Temple is a Ming dynasty temple. It locates at Dontang Town, Pudong District of Shanghai. The site used to be the Yu Gong Temple commemorating Yu Dayou, a famous anti-invasion general in the Ming Dynasty.

Nowadays in China, temples are usually places for ”burning incense and kowtow”. The core functions, "Expound the texts of Buddhism" and "Meditation", have declined. Original Buddhist architecture is not particular about axis symmetry. However Chinese Buddhist architecture was greatly affected by palace architecture ("temple" used to refer to Yamun, a kind of government agency), so we have Yamun-style temples, which are different from Tibetan, southern, and Japanese Buddhist architecture. As for this project, can we design a temple that is more friendly and interactive to the city? Can religious buildings find their spirituality? Can we build the process of people's entry to this temple be guided as a journey to understand Buddhism?
The temple locates besides a small urban green land. After communicating with the government, we changed the orientation of the temple to make it better connect to the green land. The two sites were designed together as an integrated public park open 24/7.

With careful arrangement of the architectural fragmentation and combination, and the control of the courtyard dimensions, the architectures are peaceful and simple with relaxed and natural space. Surrounding by urban environment, the temple preserved the spirit of “tranquility, peace, retreat, and isolation”. It was made by fair-faced concrete, bamboo steel, titanium zinc plate and some other materials. Our design uses modern ways to create a traditional charm and space spirit.