FIRST PRIZE WINNER!
Xiān lín lǐ , Xīnrán cáo & Jiā ruì Guō
China
Senior undergraduates in architecture department, Northeastern University, China.
Interview with the Winner
What is your design philosophy?
Mental health is a topic that has received a lot of attention, especially during the pandemic, but it is often hard to detect when it is actually happening in our lives.
We think that design should be through observing every subtle thing happening around us, to understand the real needs and feelings of users. So we chose the most crowded corner of the bustling city, which is easily overlooked, to create a space for those who struggle too hard to take care of their own mental health, to place and resolve negative emotions.
Can you briefly explain your understanding of the topic and the source of ideas?
The epidemic has swept the world in the past two years. During the period of home isolation, even with the company of family members, it is inevitable that they will feel upset because they have been separated from social life for a long time. We think of many young people living and working alone. They are already suffering from more complicated and diverse pressures in life, and the epidemic has cut them off from direct contact with their relatives and friends. Therefore, can we create a friendly and beneficial place for them to communicate with each other in the form of buildings to relieve their negative emotions?
Everyone goes through bad times in life, and we all will in the near future, and it would be meaningful to have a space where we can heal ourselves and each other. That's where our inspiration came from.
When and how you were first introduced to architecture?
I watched some documentaries and TV programs about architecture as entertainment in junior and senior high schools. When I was in college, I learned some basic knowledge in my freshman year. I should have been in my sophomore year when I first got to know architecture and space from the perspective of designers.
What does architecture mean to you?
Whether or not we turn out to be great architects, or whether or not we are exposed to architectural design, architecture is bound to become a part of our lives, an unavoidable part. In the process of design, more and more, I think architecture is a kind of human subjects, each building to represent some people, some requirements, some social phenomena of the projection, the architectural design is like a process of discovery and exploration, we study these people, feeling, empathy with these people, these people even briefly these people, Finally, their activities and ideas materialize into a tangible entity, that is, architecture. Every carefully designed building is the summary of a social discovery, the result of a practical exploration, and the mark of the existence of a group of people.
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