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Architects: Do Union Architecture
- Area: 2700 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Xuanang Tian, Zhou Li
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Manufacturers: Forster, Hormann, Orangestone
Text description provided by the architects. Beijing 751 Library/ DO UNION. Do Union designed the 751 library that integrates with the industrial remains. The 751-798 Art District is the largest art district in China, and the main venue for Beijing Fashion Week and Design Week. Established in the 1950s with aid from East Germany, it originally housed a massive electronics component factory. The 751 Library is located at the end of 798 Road, the main road within the district, facing the Locomotive Plaza. The original site was a residual ash- washing pool from the factory, with a crane above for transporting coal ash. After 2010, the ash-washing pool and crane ceased operations, and the site was closed off, interrupting the continuous 300-meter-long active commercial interface of 798 Street leading to the Locomotive Plaza.
The new library is part of the revitalization of the Locomotive Plaza. It aims to create a climax for the entire district by introducing new buildings, diverse business formats, and thoroughly open public spaces against the backdrop of old industrial relics. The library's site boundary coincides with the original outline of the coal-washing pool, and it is fully open on all sides, creating a harmonious interplay with the surrounding industrial remnants, such as the coal conveyors, boilers, tracks, overhead cranes, and locomotives.
The landscape integrates with the Locomotive Square, and extends to the "hinterland" in the north and south of the whole factory area, forming an active "cross" district. The scattered industrial structures on the site are seamlessly integrated with new elements, recreating the existing industrial texture while transforming the industrial layout into a vibrant urban living scene, organically inheriting industrial culture in a human-centered manner.
The building primarily serves as a library function, but it is also a multi- purpose cultural complex with cultural forums, conferences, and coffee and dining facilities. It has two floors above ground and one below.
The facade features continuous fair-faced concrete arches that contrast with the rough industrial remnants of the neighborhood. A preserved overhead crane is integrated into the building, creating a unique architectural image and interacting with the roof-shaped space through its movement. The glass curtain wall and large skylights introduce the spectacular outdoor industrial landscape into the interior, while forming reflections with the building facade, creating a wonderful spatial dialogue. The interior design aims to maximize spatial openness by opening up half of the ground floor, creating a three-story, nearly fully transparent space. The rich industrial landscape outside penetrates into the interior to the maximum extent, reorganized within a compact space to produce an unexpected dramatic effect.
