Dance Space in Daduhe Road, Shanghai

The client commissioned us to design a teaching and practice space with two studios for his dance brand. The dance space is situated on the ground floor of an office building adjacent to Daduhe Road metro station, with its outward-facing glass curtain wall facing a fire lane alongside a boundary wall. This lane leads directly to the metro entrance at one end and connects to the waterside greenway of Xiqiujiang River at the other. It sees relatively little pedestrian traffic during the day, but becomes very busy in the evening as it serves as a shortcut for nearby residents to access the waterside space. It turns out to be a shortcut for surrounding residents to reach the waterfront space. The basic design concept was almost determined during the very first visit to the site: to integrate chaotic and ordinary urban scenes into the consideration of the internal layout as much as possible.
Therefore, Studio A was positioned externally on the plan, seamlessly integrating with the street. The dancing scene within the studio is directly visible from the street, allowing as much natural light as possible to enter the studio. When night falls, the luminous "dance box" becomes a striking sight on the street, drawing people to pause and watch, and simultaneously enlivening the street atmosphere. Meanwhile, the studio B is concealed at the far end of the plan layout, creating a darkroom. With one being black and the other white, and one bright and the other dark, a sharp contrast is established between two studios’ spaces, providing a completely different spatial experience. Confronted with these existing plan characteristics, the space is divided into four distinct areas: a foyer, a main hall, studio A, and studio B. By strategically placing openings between these zones and integrating circulation paths, a seamless and hierarchical spatial layout is achieved.
The dance space creates a fictional dream-like experience related to physicality and color. By utilizing the 5.1-meter ceiling height of the ground floor and coordinating the scale changes in the section, a dramatic physical experience is made during the process of individual’s wandering. The main entrance is placed in the "additional space" of the original fire evacuation exit, and the narrow and high foyer is painted light purple, presenting an unusual symbolic image facing the city. When an individual reaches the doorway leading into the main hall, the ceiling height has already been compressed to 2.4 meters, creating an intimate spatial proportion with the bar and seating area. The recessed main hall accommodates programmes such as the reception, changing rooms, and seating areas. Natural light, filtered through the studio A, passes through the openings and diffuses into the dynamic space, shaping the openness of this space.
The all-black studio B is connected to the lounge through a single doorway. By utilizing the geometric offset of the changing room compartments, a ceremonial expression is created before entering the studio B.
The design and construction period was limited to 30 days. Under such construction conditions, all materials must be economical, controllable, and easily accessible. Therefore, large areas of the surfaces were finished with low-cost materials such as prefabricated floor mats, colored paints, OSB boards, and other low-cost materials, as well as industrial lighting fixtures that could still be reused in the future if the leasing conditions of the site change.
Under the pressure of spatial costs and density in the metropolis, maximizing the integration of limited resources to create a contrast in experience while achieving continuous openness between the internal space and the external city has become the theme of this project.