Jinan Bocuiminghu Textile Culture and Arts Exhibition Hall

The 4th National Cotton Factory of Jinan was the successor of the Chengtong Yarn Mill built in 1932. It is an important historical industrial building, not only for its long history but also for its testament of the rise and fall of the cotton textile industry in northern China.

Today, the legacy site of the 4th National Cotton Factory is being comprehensively renovated into a new living community. In order to better preserve the rich history and memories associated with the site, several original buildings are set for renovation and reuse. The goal is to retain the traces of history and inject fresh vitality into the new project.

In the design conception phase of the project, the designers set a theme of “Time, Light and Traces”. It is our keen emotions which feel this subtle change, our innermost beings which hearken to things long gone; what we experience transforms ever so gradually into impressions entrenched within our hearts.

Guided by a resolve to carve alongside time, Fenghemuchen strives to preserve our most cherished memories and create a space beyond compare, a space realized as dual-functional, serving both as a community activity center and the sales center of the project. The theme is textile culture, intended to pass on and bring to life the profound culture of textiles in China, to enhance participation and engagement and to build a place where people are willing to partake in a hands-on creation experience and admire the allure of fabric-making techniques.

The entire structure is reinforced from the inside to the outside. The fortified columns and beams form the skeleton. The naked, red brick “skin” enhances the industrial sense of the former workshops, and the introduction of wood-based materials softens the hard and cold industrial style, lending a cozy, laid-back intimacy to the environment.

Creativity of the space take inspiration from the reminiscence of bustling looms in the textile workshop. The main visual element is an estimated 5,000 spindles arranged in the way they used to be on the looms, forming a matrix structure with a strong sense of spatial sequencing. The dense spindles form an isolated yet integral part of the composite scene, presenting a strong perceptual presence of modern art installations.

In the front area’s textile exhibition hall, Fenghemuchen aims to use modern art techniques to arrange objects, literature, scenes, illustrations, models and multimedia presentations of textile culture based on time and location and to show the historical context of development in various fields of textiles, weaving and dyeing as well as a myriad of historical documents pertaining to the former 4th National Cotton Factory.

After all the design and renovation, we imagine the former 4th National Cotton Factory will continue to stand the tests of the ages and the liveliness of this world. History as it happened will gradually fade into distant memory, but new hopes will forever be ignited in our hearts, guiding us to better face the chaotic and unknown future.

Design: YI+MU Design Office
Design Team: Yi Chen, Muchen Zhang, Wujie Li, Zhiqiang Yang, Yi Xiao, Yanrong Yang, Xu Zhang, Huize Qiu
Photography: Xiangyu Sun, courtesy of YI+MU Design Office