STEEL Art Museum / SSAD Studio
The architectural renovation project “Steel Art Museum” designed by SSAD Studio led by Liang Chen and Wang Shixue has been completed and put into use in January 2022. The project is located at No. The project is located at No. 3 Huying Street, Anshan City, Liaoning Province. It was originally the auditorium of the Ansteel Party School Club. This building was constructed starting in November 1983 and was completed and put into operation in October 1985. It has 730 seats and covers an area of about 2,400 square meters. The total construction area is 1,050 square meters, and the renovated building area is 2,130 square meters. The whole building is made of red bricks. There are exhibition spaces, artist studios, design studios, café bars, restaurants, and other multi-functional formats inside. As the first art museum in Anshan City that focuses on the ecology of contemporary art, Steel Art Museum shoulders the dual mission of both an urban art landmark and a cultural sharing platform. In today’s era of prevailing light materials and soft culture, the hard-core steel narrative that exudes the smell of coal can always trigger the public’s imagination of magical stories. However, the stagnation of the nostalgic complex brings about the “siege effect”, the self-dissolution of local culture occurs and the impact of the emerging culture fails. To put it simply, the old has gone away swiftly and the new has failed to fill in. In the context of the spasm of various ideological values and the weakness of traditional activation strategies, this renovation questioned again the rapid alienation of architecture and the flattery after secularization in the general society. It is expected to complete the reflection and discussion of several propositions in the text form such as contemporaneity, architectural ontology, and urban activation on the basis of physical creation so as to form a multi-dimensional interpretation and attempt of space, field, and decision-making.