Architects: RSAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang
Area: 750 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: Yumeng Zhu, Kai Hu@AGENTPAY
Landscape Design: Ballistic Architecture Machine
Lighting Consultant: KHD Lighting Design
Principal Architect: Ziyu Zhuang, Na Li
Design Team: Jian Liu，Mengzhao Xing，Mengdi Wu，Churan Li，Yuxin Li
Interior Design: Chen Liu, Yue Liu, Wei Cai, Zhujing Ding, Weiyu Wang, Zhendong Chen, Chengqian Cao, Zheng Gao
Clients: Beijing KING Resources REAL Estate
Project Operation: Shanghai Desirable Art Communication Co., Ltd.
Construction Drawings: Beijing Potential Space Architectural Design
City: Chao Yang Qu
Country: China
HERmit Space-Beijing MAHA Art Gallery designed by RSAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang in Beijing, China has transformed three sunken courtyards into unique spaces for contemporary art and community activities. The redesign enhances the courtyards’ community and landscape attributes, creating a multifaceted art hub.
The MAHA HERmit Space is located within the central park of a high-end community in Beijing’s core area. It consists of three distinct areas: “Islet Space,” “Cave Space,” and “Ravine Space.” Originally, the site featured three independent sunken courtyards in the community’s underground parking lot. BUZZ redefined these areas while preserving their special value, creating new experiences through different design approaches. The redesign aimed to strengthen the site’s community and landscape attributes, fulfilling the requirements of a contemporary art space functioning as a composite content hub.
The “Islet Space” is the central and largest of the three courtyards. Its top is designed as a covered “roof” with a circle of skylights, allowing natural light to filter down and create the impression of a metallic island floating within a circle of light. The design aligns the main exhibition hall with the ceiling, and a functionally lower-height room on the side away from the entrance adds versatility, turning the Islet Space into both an art exhibition area and a community space for meetings and gatherings.
The “Cave Space” is formed from a smooth curve, resembling a fissure opening in the ground, with its entrance winding naturally downward. Afternoon sunlight filters through surrounding buildings, casting tree shadows on the ground through the crack. At night, interior lighting seeps through the fissure, creating an exploratory and novel image. Inside, the space presents a soft, cavity-like form with an enveloping, semi-open structure that invites landscape features into the internal space.
This design transcends architectural aesthetics, linking biological experiences with its “historical” attribute. The continuous walls formed by the cavity accommodate large sculptures, contemporary installations, and projection-based new media art, blending seamlessly with the exhibited artworks and becoming a new artistic medium.
The “Ravine Space” is positioned between the “Islet Space” and the “Cave Space,” emphasizing community activities over art exhibitions. Outside, it boasts a skateboard park, while the interior houses a climbing wall and activity rooms. The square-shaped roof block of the skateboard park is integrated alongside the climbing wall in the sunken area.
The dynamic silhouettes of skateboarders cast shadows on the climbing wall, creating an engaging interaction between these two distinct yet spatially connected activities. This interplay creates a canyon-like fissure, adding a scenic element to the other two exhibition spaces. Closely integrated with the ground level, the space is used for community art markets and creative activities, offering a fresh interactive perspective.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Xiao Yun Lu, Chaoyang Qu, Beijing, China
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
