Dalian 37 Xiang Cultural and Creative Park

United Units Architects (UUA)'s Cultural and Creative Park encodes rich symbolic meaning through its architectural vocabulary, where the perforated facade functions as a threshold membrane mediating between public and private realms, between industrial past and creative future. The sail-like vertical fins ascending from the building's crown carry nautical associations suggesting voyage, aspiration, and the catching of creative winds, while their graceful curves echo traditional calligraphic brushstrokes, grounding contemporary form in cultural memory. The warm amber light filtering through the perforated screens evokes the archetype of the inhabited lantern, a universal symbol of welcome, safety, and human presence within sheltering enclosure, transforming the building into a beacon of cultural production visible across the surrounding context. The triadic arrangement of the primary vertical elements may suggest dynamic balance and forward momentum, while their ascending profiles communicate aspiration and growth. The material honesty of expressed aluminum panels and visible structural logic reflects modernist principles of transparency and authenticity, yet the softening effect of perforation introduces porosity and breath that tempers industrial rationality with organic responsiveness. The stone base anchors the composition in geological permanence and site memory, creating a dialogue between ephemeral contemporary intervention and enduring earthen foundation. The twilight moment captured in the photograph carries liminal significance, representing threshold states between day and night, between industrial heritage and cultural renewal, between opacity and transparency. The horizontal layering of floor plates creates readable human scale against the soaring vertical gesture, balancing rational order with expressive freedom. White as the dominant chromatic choice traditionally carries associations of purity, possibility, and new beginning, appropriate for a site dedicated to creative emergence and cultural production, while the warm interior glow suggests the alchemical transformation occurring within as creative energy generates illumination that radiates outward into the community.

Transformed from an abandoned factory, Dalian 37 Xiang is located halfway up the mountain side with a main aspect towards the harbor in the north of the city. The design is inspired by the geographical features of Dalian's iconic mountains and adjacent seas, creating a new architectural image that echoes the spirit of the city, establishing a contrast between the old and the new through light interventions. The design objective was to renew this old factory into a regional landmark of the city, accommodate multiple business types, and finally make it an open and dynamic city node.