▲ Interior of the Activity House © Photo by Liangshan
With the development of Pujiang West Bank, the century-old Longhua Airport has been transformed into a runway park adjacent to the city’s main road. Along this north-south urban green belt, we have designed a series of small buildings serving both parks and communities. The Yunjin Road Activity House is a concentrated cluster within this series, comprising three buildings: the Community House, Coffee House, and French South Restaurant.
▲ Location Map
▲ General Layout Plan
Context and Layout
The linear park site heavily influenced the building’s layout. Along the east-west axis, we arranged concrete walls with varying spacing and lengths, serving both as spatial dividers and vertical structural elements supporting a folded plate roof system composed of inclined steel trusses. These undulating roofs extend longitudinally, symbolizing the runway’s takeoff motion and establishing a historical connection to Longhua Airport.
Underneath, a series of roofs cover internal spaces parallel to the runway. These spaces are interconnected yet maintain a degree of independence within their respective roofs and walls, resembling a cluster of homes gathered together. This ambiguous spatial relationship between openness and enclosure offers flexibility and potential for future uses.
▲ Hand-drawn Sketch
▲ Hand-drawn Sketch
▲ North-facing Bird’s-Eye View of the Park © Photo by Su Shengliang
Extension of Home
Similar to traditional houses, once the unified cornice height (2.8m) and roof slope (approximately 5° to 3°) are defined, different roof heights are set according to room depths. The building layout responds to the site’s spatial needs.
▲ Traditional Roof © Photo by Zhu Xiaofeng
Freely distributed concrete walls support clusters of double-pitched roofs. These roofs, varying in size, nest in a staggered arrangement, creating an undulating form reminiscent of a small village. The building’s human scale in cross-section draws from traditional residential spatial experiences.
▲ Model Photo
▲ Model Photo
▲ View Towards the French South Restaurant from Fountain Square © Photo by Jiang Meng
Longitudinally, the sloping roof extends beyond traditional bay sizes, creating a continuous sloping roof along the runway’s direction. Under this roof, two scales combine to form a new spatial order called the “extension of home” — an internal space that balances independence with openness, tailored to the site’s characteristics.
▲ North-facing Bird’s-Eye View © Photo by Su Shengliang
Two gable walls supporting a sloping roof form the basic prototype of traditional houses. In this project, a two-fold roof supported by four concrete walls represents the basic interpretation of the “extension of home.” Multiple layers of concrete walls offer flexible spatial organization, supporting the multi-folded roof that extends longitudinally, forming the core spatial logic of the activity house.
▲ Interior of French Southern Restaurant © Photo by Su Shengliang
▲ Interior of French Southern Restaurant © Photo by Su Shengliang
The Spirit of Folded Plates
Structurally, the activity house features a variant folded plate system. The flat valley section between two folded roofs maintains a consistent height, while peak heights vary according to the span (depth). By leveraging the overall height of the folded plate, the building achieves a large north-south span with minimal plate thickness.
Steel trusses were chosen to create a folded panel roof with a maximum longitudinal span of 20 meters and a roof structure thickness of just 120mm. These trusses are welded from square steel pipes and hinged to supports embedded in the concrete walls.
▲ Structural Logic Diagram
The roof is clad with lightweight titanium zinc sheets, resulting in an overall thickness of only 240mm. This lightweight, dynamic roof form and texture pays homage to the airport’s historical origins.
▲ Northeastern Facade of Community House © Photo by Su Shengliang
The concrete walls along the east-west axis are not traditional gable walls but horizontal sheet walls standing 2.65 meters high. This design creates triangular high side windows of varying sizes between the sloping roof and concrete walls, producing diverse light atmospheres indoors.
The structural characteristics of the folded plate roof gently resting on the concrete walls are also expressed externally on the “gable wall” surfaces.
▲ French South Restaurant High Window © Photo by Su Shengliang
▲ Southwest Facade of the Coffee House © Photo by Su Shengliang
▲ South Facade of the Coffee House © Photo by Zhu Xiaofeng
The Activity House faces east and west, exposing it to strong sunlight. Large glass windows fill the exterior walls between the concrete walls on these sides, with a window sill height of 45 cm. Adjustable louvers control light entry, producing a soft, even indoor glow. Window frames and sills are crafted from wood-colored aluminum alloy, adding warmth to the otherwise simple interior of white roofs and concrete walls.
▲ Southeast Facade of French South Restaurant and Community House © Photo by Su Shengliang
▲ Community House Interior View Toward Runway Park © Photo by Su Shengliang
Inclusive System
Several buildings within Runway Park utilize this structural system. Its flexible organization allows each building to have unique characteristics: the open gray space of the coffee house near the subway entrance, the courtyards between different areas of the community home, and the sunken space and small attic of the French restaurant all showcase the adaptability and spatial potential of this system.
▲ Community Home Courtyard © Photo by Liangshan
▲ Community Home Roof Terrace © Photo by Su Shengliang
▲ Entrance of Community House, a space for rest © Photo by Su Shengliang
▲ French South Restaurant Attic © Photo by Su Shengliang
▲ Entrance to Coffee House © Photo by Su Shengliang
The Yunjin Road Activity House was completed with simple finishes, allowing tenants to personalize the spaces according to their preferences and needs. The Community House, as a public facility, regularly hosts cultural exchange events, aiming to stimulate the architectural space’s flexibility and unlock further potential uses.
▲ Interior of the North Entrance of Community House © Photo by Su Shengliang
The French South Restaurant has dedicated the sunken area and small attic as separate office spaces, expanded the northern side to create a preparation room, and left the central area open as a flexible dining space. The restaurant also replaced the windows facing the children’s playground with sliding and folding panels, allowing them to open fully and create a seamless indoor-outdoor connection.
▲ Interior of French South Restaurant © Photo by Su Shengliang
▲ French South Restaurant Interior Overlooking the Children’s Playground © Photo by Su Shengliang
▲ Children’s Playground View Towards French South Restaurant and Community House © Photo by Su Shengliang
The Coffee House, operated by CoffeeCall, is a cozy spot where friends gather to enjoy coffee and delicious food. It has become a popular internet-famous café.
▲ Coffee Hut Grey Space © Photo by Zhu Xiaofeng
▲ Interior of Coffee House © Photo by Su Shengliang
Drawings
▲ Floor Plan (French South Restaurant, Community House)
▲ Floor Plan (Coffee House)
▲ Section 1
▲ Section 2
▲ Section 3
▲ Section 4
Project Information
Project Name: Yunjin Road Activity House
Project Function: Public Facilities
Architectural Firm: Shanshui Xiu Architectural Firm
Office Website: __AI_ST_URL_0__
Lead Architects: Zhu Xiaofeng, Jiang Meng, Pablo Gonzalez Riera
Design Team: Zhu Xiaofeng, Zhuang Xinjia (Project Manager), Jiang Meng (Project Architect), Pablo Gonzalez Riera, Shi Yan’an, Du Shigang, Sheng Tai
Principal: Xuhui Binjiang Development Investment and Construction Co., Ltd
Structural Consultant: Zhang Zhun / He Zuo Structural Architecture Research Institute
Landscape Design: Sasaki Associates
Collaborative Design Institute: Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute (Group) Co., Ltd
Construction Contractor: Hongrun Construction
Design and Construction Period: 2014–2018
Building Area: 502.9 m² (French Restaurant), 539.20 m² (Community Home), 72.62 m² (Coffee House)
Project Address: 280 Yunjin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai
Photographers: Su Shengliang / Shiran Architecture Photography, Liangshan, Zhu Xiaofeng, Jiang Meng
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