Redevelopment of DaChan Flour Mills——Interconnected Silos

Project description

Building Area: 1752 sqm
Design Period: 2014—2015
Category: Cultural & Educational

Landmark

The silos of DaChan Flour Mills have been used for storage of grains in this flour empire. The ten huge cylindrical silos still rise and the eight Chinese characters saying DaChan Flour and Ironman Flour on the top edge still remain visible after witnessing the ups and downs of DaChan empire and even the industrial development of the whole Shekou district in past decades.

Undoubtedly silos are the most unique and important structures at site so their functionality becomes less important. Instead, the very original spatial attributes of this industrial legacy is reserved and restored as far as possible, and the solid appearance is retained to highlight the indoor experiences on time, space and texture. A unique visitor circulation is created on F2 of the ten silos. Each silo uses different lighting to foster different atmosphere and create diverse and overwhelming spiritual experiences.

Future

The permanent silo renovation plan will be further implemented after 2015 UABB closes. The top floor of the silos will follow the cloud-like profile to create more transparent volumes, i.e. the office spaces of the Business Promotion Office. The main silo spaces are planned as art museum, where a continuous central steel stair is implanted in a center-to-center manner in the ten silos to connect the spaces on different floors and establish the main visiting circulation. Meanwhile, libraries and full-height meditation rooms are placed now and then along the way to highlight the spiritual attributes of the silos and elevate the visiting experience to a new level.

DaChan Flour Mills can be dated back to 1980, and, in October, 1990, Taiwan-based DaChan Food Limited took it over and renamed it DaChan Food (Shekou) Company that started to be engaged in the production and promotion of various high-grade baking flour, which sold well in the brand names of DaChan (for overseas market) and Ironman (for home market) in Hong Kong, the Pearl River Delta and other regions. In 2010, DaChan Flour Mills stopped operation due to the industrial upgrade and transformation of Shekou District. Though its best days may have gone, factory buildings remain and tell the stories of the past. Aren’t they very precious for young Shenzhen, which has very little history to be memorized? Against the special development background of Shekou, a “special zone” inside Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, how can these historical buildings, which are located in Taiziwan Bay, a district developing around the core competence of international resources and global cultural exchange, be redeveloped to adapt to a brand new era?