W2 Architects

Located at the heart of Nanjing downtown, the project was commissioned to express the contemporary image of Nanjing City. As a core part of the regeneration plan for Hunan road and Shanxi road area, the Youth Center will serve as an activity center for future youngsters.

“How to create a continues flow between inside and outside spaces, between lower and higher spaces, between public and private spaces?” the answers to these questions became the driven idea behind this project. The project aims to deliver to the occupants a continues experience throughout the whole building, where minimum boundaries shall be found.

The building was wrapped by a continues ramp which connects inside and outside spaces, lower and higher spaces, public and private spaces. With view towards the open green space, this exterior ramp also became the dominant feature of the building appearance. There is a second ramp inside the building running from basement all the way to the rooftop providing seamless and friendly connection though the entitle building floors. The inner ramp was designed with a generous width of four meters and equipped with a full height book shelve where various activities are encouraged to take place, such as exhibition, reading, etc,.

The building interior also features a square atrium that connects the levels above the theatre with sculpture-form like staircases, the open grand stair on the second floor makes this open space the interactive center of the Youth Palace.

The building exterior is completed with a layer of polycarbonate panels which allows certain amount of natural light into the interior spaces while preserving the privacy in dense urban environment. The opaque finish also gives this building distinctive light effects from both inside and outside.