PLAT ASIA Designs Beijing Community Hub with Box-Like Frames

PLAT ASIA has completed the Foresky Community Center, a neighborhood facility in Beijing designed to foster connection and collective use through a distinctive architectural approach. Located within the Foresky residential development, the center integrates a gym, children’s center, restaurant, café, and art shop into a unified spatial framework.

The design, guided by the principles of ‘Gathering’ and ‘Return,’ prioritizes circulation and spatial sequencing to create an inviting environment for residents. A sunken courtyard serves as the project’s central organizing element, with program spaces arranged in a circular configuration around an oval plaza, facilitating visual connections between indoor areas and the outdoor gathering space.

Box-Like Frames Define Spaces

Architect Jung Donghyun’s concept of gathering is realized through a recurring system of frame-like volumes. These frames act as both a formal language and a spatial organizer, defining rooms, thresholds, seating areas, and views. This creates a sequence of interconnected spaces intended to encourage interaction among residents.

Within the gym, frames of varying scales and heights delineate distinct zones for reception, cardio, strength training, Pilates, yoga, and changing facilities. A central shared rest area is enclosed by these surrounding program elements, allowing the fitness space to function as a social hub as well as an exercise facility. Ceiling heights and enclosure levels are varied to accommodate different activities and user patterns, creating a mix of private and public conditions.

In the children’s center, the framed volumes rise directly from the floor, scaled to a child’s perspective. Modules with diverse openings are distributed throughout the open plan, with windows on multiple sides enhancing visual connections and opportunities for interaction.

The restaurant is organized around a central bar, with dining areas radiating outwards. Variations in ceiling framing distinguish between more communal zones and intimate seating areas. Furniture, lighting, and architectural elements are integrated within the same framing system to maintain a consistent visual language throughout the dining spaces. The café features a simplified material palette, with continuous veneer surfaces wrapping the framed volumes for a clear and compact interior identity.

Atmosphere Through Design Elements

The Beijing Foresky Community Center utilizes lighting, material selection, and circulation routes to cultivate distinct spatial atmospheres. Higher color temperatures are employed in the children’s center to promote a brighter, more active environment, while lower color temperatures in the gym create a calmer, more domestic feel compared to a typical commercial fitness facility.

The framed volumes are constructed from a combination of metal structures, fabric, modular components, and veneer. Metal frames offer openness and permeability in the gym and restaurant, while more enclosed surfaces in the children’s center and café contribute to a softer, warmer atmosphere. Stainless steel elements echo the exterior façade’s material palette, establishing a continuity between the interior and exterior.

Landscape elements are integrated into the interior, with greenery, rubble, and wood fragments incorporated into floor surfaces and circulation routes. These materials serve to connect the interior spaces with the surrounding garden context, reinforcing the project’s emphasis on neighborhood gathering and shared outdoor experiences.

Key facts

This project highlights how thoughtful architectural design can transform a community center into a vibrant and interconnected space. PLAT ASIA’s use of repetitive framing elements not only provides a cohesive aesthetic but also functionally organizes diverse activities, encouraging social interaction and enhancing the user experience within the Foresky residential development. The integration of natural landscape elements further blurs the lines between indoor and outdoor spaces, promoting a sense of well-being and connection to the environment.

Source: PLAT ASIA uses box-like frames to connect fitness, dining, and play in beijing community hub – Designboom https://www.designboom.com/architecture/plat-asia-box-frames-fitness-dining-play-beijing-community-foresky-center/