April One to Watch: WallaceLiu


WallaceLiu is an architecture practice established in 2014 by Jee Liu and Jamie Wallace


Words by Sophie Tolhurst

Who

WallaceLiu is a two-person British practice established in 2014 by Jee Liu and Jamie Wallace. Known for adaptive reuse, its most significant projects so far has been in China. Liu was born in Shandong province, eastern China, and has since 2009 lived and practiced in both the UK and China. She co-founded the Chinese offshoot of the international modernist heritage conservation body DoCoMoMo. Wallace has more than 15 years’ experience on high-profile projects, many of which have won awards, and has been nominated for the RIBA Bronze and Silver medals as well as winning design competitions in the UK and China. Both lecture at universities such as the Manchester and Leicester schools of architecture, and institutions such as the Victoria and Albert museum in London and the USC American Academy in China.
 

Why

At the heart of WallaceLiu’s work is ‘a desire to make places where architecture and landscape connect and where complex relationships between the new and old are celebrated through space that is rich in layers, light, colour and texture’. This is seen in its focus on working with redundant buildings and landscapes in Chongqing, China, on projects that engage with the changing aims of the city, moving from prioritising rapid growth to nurturing urban culture. 
 

What

Chongqing Industrial Museum: Built in 1938, work was halted at the Chongqing Iron and Steel plant in 2010, and in 2016 WallaceLiu won a commission to turn it into a museum. To preserve its features, a lightweight steel frame holds exhibition spaces off the ground, allowing the lower ground floor to remain open and exploration of the original site’s layered spaces.1. Chongqing Industrial Museum:
Built in 1938, work was halted at the Chongqing Iron and Steel plant in 2010, and in 2016 WallaceLiu won a commission to turn it into a museum. To preserve its features, a lightweight steel frame holds exhibition spaces off the ground, allowing the lower ground floor to remain open and exploration of the original site’s layered spaces.

 

Yannan Avenue Liveable Street: WallaceLiu paved over a 20m-wide, 1km-long highway, turning it into a ‘liveable street.’ Retaining the layout, sub-base and drainage reduced the cost of work, but the design changed the nature of the street: benches and planters break up the monolithic feel, and flush kerb stones blur the boundary between highway and pavement.2. Yannan Avenue Liveable Street:
WallaceLiu paved over a 20m-wide, 1km-long highway, turning it into a ‘liveable street.’ Retaining the layout, sub-base and drainage reduced the cost of work, but the design changed the nature of the street: benches and planters break up the monolithic feel, and flush kerb stones blur the boundary between highway and pavement.

 

Coloured Canopies: A series of six colourful canopies, made of perspex panels on a grey coated steel structure, help inject colour into grey urban surrounds. The canopies mimic coloured clouds, while also framing and filtering views, and casting shadows on the ground. Each canopy is unique, and designed to integrate with flora, pavings and buildings. 3. Coloured Canopies:
A series of six colourful canopies, made of perspex panels on a grey coated steel structure, help inject colour into grey urban surrounds. The canopies mimic coloured clouds, while also framing and filtering views, and casting shadows on the ground. Each canopy is unique, and designed to integrate with flora, pavings and buildings. 

Where
wallaceliu.com








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