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New Design Trends | Kong Xiangwei Unveils His Latest Creation for the Flying Bird Art Museum, SoBA Transforms Architecture into a "GIF," and Di Dong Revives an Industrial Site as a Urban Cultural and Leisure Green Space

Release Time:

2025-10-16

New Design Trends | Kong Xiangwei unveils his latest creation for the Flying Bird Art Museum, SoBA transforms architecture into a "GIF," and Di Dong repurposes an industrial site into a vibrant urban cultural and recreational green space.

Guided by the concept of "light intervention," we're creating a functional cultural landmark.

Dali Wuliangshan Flying Birds Art Museum by Kong Xiangwei Studio

Located at the northern foot of the Wuliangshan National Nature Reserve, Phoenix Mountain in Nanjian County, Dali, Yunnan, stretches across the junction of the Hengduan Mountains and the Ailao Mountain Range. Rising to an elevation of 2,300 meters, Phoenix Mountain—along with its canyon terrain and warm air currents—has uniquely created a "corridor of life." Every autumn, countless migratory birds travel along this ancient, millennia-old trail, and the Flying Birds Art Museum has become the spiritual heart of this cultural and tourism complex.

The design team, guided by the concept of "light intervention," added a lightweight steel structure atop the existing building to expand the second-floor space. Overall, a steel-structured skybridge combined with an open, pointed roof resembles the outstretched wings of migratory birds, transforming into an artistic installation nestled in the valley. It primarily showcases photographic works capturing the breathtaking migrations of the Wuliang Mountain's seasonal visitors. It serves as both a functional cultural building and a small landmark in the valley. 。

Bring the space to life: Transforming architecture into an openable and closable box

The Bloom Box by SoBA

Before Renovation © SoBA

Renovated © Wen Studio

The project is located on a lakeside platform within Kunshan Huaqiao Central Park in Jiangsu, occupying the site of a dilapidated old sunshade pavilion. The design team hopes to breathe life into this space—and make it a place people actually want to stop and linger—through a lightweight, flexible design intervention.

The design aims for the building to respond proactively based on time, weather, and usage needs, which is why a The openable and closable box-like structure: When open for business, its walls can slide, flip, and rise, fully unveiling the interior space to draw people in and encourage them to linger. Meanwhile, when closed or not in use, it neatly retracts into a serene, compact form.

The design blurs the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces through folded door panels, sliding facades, and translucent materials—creating an in-between "gray space" that not only shields from sun and rain but also allows breezes to flow freely and natural light to filter in. This transformation turns the once-closed volume into an open, interactive environment, enriching the range of possibilities for how people can engage with the space: from waiting for coffee and enjoying scenic views to hosting temporary markets and vibrant community events. Architecture is no longer just a "thing," but rather a "space" where life unfolds.

Animation demonstration © SoBA

A 2-meter-wide, ultra-narrow café pays tribute to a shrine nestled in the urban crevices.

The Chapel by Vinklu

This pocket-sized café, designed by the Romanian architecture firm Vinklu, Paying homage to the miniature shrines found along rural roads in Japan with its sleek, pointed design, it’s cleverly nestled between two residential buildings in Bucharest.

The café, named The Chapel (Little Church), was commissioned by the local chain Boiler Coffee and is located on a long-neglected, narrow vacant lot along Bazilescu Street in Bucharest’s bustling First District. Outdoor seating has been thoughtfully arranged along the street, seamlessly blending with the vibrant urban landscape.

Vinklu views the café as a "sanctuary for connection and contemplation," with its design inspired by the small shrines and tea houses commonly found along rural roadsides in Japan. The building features a sleek, steeply pitched structure entirely clad in glass, which, when illuminated at night, resembles a glowing lantern.

Multi-disciplinary collaboration preserves and restores industrial heritage sites, providing high-quality urban ecological green spaces and leisure & recreation areas.

Jining Zoucheng Ferroalloy 1971 Industrial Heritage Park (Phase I) by Di Dong Planning & Design (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Before Renovation © Di Dong Planning & Design (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Renovated © Chill Shine by Qiu Wensan

The Ferroalloy 1971 Industrial Heritage Park is located on the former site of the Lunan Ferroalloy Plant in Zoucheng, Shandong Province. The project not only allows local residents and tourists to once again stand at the foot of the iron alloy plant’s iconic industrial ruins, but also provides residents with high-quality urban ecological green spaces and leisure-and-recreation areas. The project respects the site’s history and integrity, infusing Zoucheng—a millennium-old cultural town—with cultural elements from the industrial era. It enhances and elevates Zoucheng’s overall aesthetic and cultural value, while also making a remarkable contribution to fostering coordinated development across the surrounding regions, ultimately driving regional revitalization.

Designing cultural excavation, the project explores strategies for integrating industrial heritage with urban public spaces by reinterpreting and repurposing the site’s existing industrial remnants through thoughtful design. Deeply explore the intrinsic connections between the history of ferroalloys, the industrial symbolic memories embedded within the site, and the urban vitality-driven spatial system; while fostering multi-dimensional natural art and humanistic aesthetic experiences.

The industrial heritage section focuses on production processes, showcasing core elements of the industrial legacy—such as ironmaking blast furnaces, hot-air stoves, baghouse dust collectors, and material silos—essential equipment that once supported the entire production workflow. The design leverages the core industrial heritage as the overarching architectural highlight of the park, serving as the starting point for shaping the site's unique spirit, while also defining the park's overall skyline silhouette—echoing harmoniously with the surrounding cityscape.

The design adheres to the principle of “ Principle of Minimal Intervention "Intervene in the core area of the industrial heritage site." With the rugged industrial aesthetic directly clashing against the delicate, soothing hues of natural greenery, the park has forged an irreplaceable and unique landscape defined by its post-industrial remnants. Design imbues the core area with an absolute appreciation for the interplay of industry and nature, enabling users to directly experience the technological, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions of the industrial era—and to fully immerse themselves in a rich, multifaceted encounter.

Using "pumice stone" as a metaphor, the project creates a public "urban living room" through its cantilevered structure, fostering a sense of shared community.

Changsha Zhigu · Digital Space Station by Local Studio + Hunan University Design Institute Co., Ltd.

The project is located within the World Computing·Changsha Smart Valley Industrial Park, and its design reimagines the technological infrastructure through a bold structural innovation seamlessly integrated with cultural resonance. At the heart of this lies the metaphor of "floating stone," which challenges the typology of industrial architecture by creating a public space through its cantilevered design—a symbol of digital-age independence, unbound by physical constraints. A hybrid structure—concrete core and steel trusses—liberates the ground floor plan, creating a A "third space" with a sunken design Here, light, water, and human activities interact spontaneously.

Inside, The folded geometric forms and exposed construction materials juxtapose the raw material—concrete—with its ever-changing reflections (achieved through the tensile grid panels), harmonizing the technical materiality of the structure with its poetic, abstract essence. This project goes beyond functional determinism, viewing space as a dynamic stage for social interaction and seamlessly integrating industrial assets—such as factories and logistics hubs—with everyday life.