The Gymnasium of Donghua University is actually a playground in all-weather. For the sake of the limited investment, this gym mainly depends on natural light and natural ventilation. The net height of the iterior space also uses the lowest data that architectural standard admits.
As a result, this gym becomes a kind of between-mass, which means:
Between interior and exterior
Between formal and temporary
Between housing and landscape
Between entity and mural
Between building and construction…
All these were decided by the project’s inner problems and the way used to settle them…
Location: University town of Songjiang, Shanghai
Client: …

Chinese national 1st class registered architect. Graduated from Architecture Department at Dongnan University in 1985. Design director of Chaox Architects, Shanghai.
domus: Why do you name your firm “Chaox Architects”?
Luo Siwei: We had prepared dozens of names, but all of them were rejected by the Industry and Commerce Administration. I tried several other names, and they selected ” Free Thinking,” and, in English, “Chaox”. The process of naming isn’t much different from the basic modes of architecture design: being passive, being selected, and being motivated. Of course, we like “Free Thinking” …