Department of Sculpture, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute
Chongqing, People's Republic of China · 2004
Photo · Arch-Exist
A striking precedent for institutional architecture by Liu Jiakun, demonstrating how textured slate cladding and canted terracotta-colored concrete walls can create a heavy, sculptural facade with deep punched openings.
- What we like about this project
- The left edge of the building flares outward dramatically as it rises, defying the typical orthogonal box shape.
Materials
- terracotta-colored-concrete
- slate-shingles
- dark-stone-cladding
- glass
- steel-railings
Visual identifiers
- terracotta-concrete
- slate-cladding
- canted-facade
- punched-windows
- weathered-patina
Style tags
- regionalist
- brutalist
- sculptural
- expressive-concrete
Visual tags
- monumental
- institutional
- brutalist-influence
- weathered
- asymmetric-massing
- Geometry
- An asymmetrical, monumental block featuring a canted, outward-flaring left wing and a flat right wing. The central bay is clad in dark stone tiles with a grid of deeply recessed, vertically oriented punched windows that slightly tilt outward following the facade's profile.
- Facade system
- Rain-screen slate shingle cladding combined with cast-in-place colored concrete panels.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with canted shear walls.
- Spatial scale
- A mid-rise institutional building, approximately six stories tall, with a monumental scale relative to the surrounding streetscape.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight casting soft shadows within the window reveals and highlighting the wet weathering patterns on the terracotta-colored walls.
- Atmosphere
- Somber, heavy, and weathered, with the textured materials showing a rich patina under a cloudy sky.
- Environmental context
- Set within an urban campus environment, with older brick buildings and dense green trees visible in the background and at the street level.
- Spatial experience
- The building presents a heavy, fortress-like presence to the street, with deep window reveals and recessed balconies that create a sense of protective enclosure and depth.
- Composition rhythm
- A rigorous grid of vertical punched windows in the central slate bay contrasts with the solid, monolithic terracotta wings flanking it.
- Style reading
- Contemporary regionalist brutalism
- Program
- Art school academic building
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- terracotta-colored-concrete, slate-shingles, dark-stone-cladding, glass, steel-railings
- Visual identifiers
- terracotta-concrete, slate-cladding, canted-facade, punched-windows, weathered-patina
- Style tags
- regionalist, brutalist, sculptural, expressive-concrete
- Visual tags
- monumental, institutional, brutalist-influence, weathered, asymmetric-massing
- Geometry
- An asymmetrical, monumental block featuring a canted, outward-flaring left wing and a flat right wing. The central bay is clad in dark stone tiles with a grid of deeply recessed, vertically oriented punched windows that slightly tilt outward following the facade's profile.
- Facade system
- Rain-screen slate shingle cladding combined with cast-in-place colored concrete panels.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with canted shear walls.
- Spatial scale
- A mid-rise institutional building, approximately six stories tall, with a monumental scale relative to the surrounding streetscape.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight casting soft shadows within the window reveals and highlighting the wet weathering patterns on the terracotta-colored walls.
- Atmosphere
- Somber, heavy, and weathered, with the textured materials showing a rich patina under a cloudy sky.
- Environmental context
- Set within an urban campus environment, with older brick buildings and dense green trees visible in the background and at the street level.
- Spatial experience
- The building presents a heavy, fortress-like presence to the street, with deep window reveals and recessed balconies that create a sense of protective enclosure and depth.
- Composition rhythm
- A rigorous grid of vertical punched windows in the central slate bay contrasts with the solid, monolithic terracotta wings flanking it.
- Style reading
- Contemporary regionalist brutalism
- Program
- Art school academic building
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture