Wulin Star Exhibition Hall

Entering this expansive industrial hall, one encounters a vast rectangular space dominated by a continuous wall of corrugated metal panels stretching from the right foreground deep into the distance at left. The wall stands approximately three stories tall, composed of vertical panels with fine horizontal ridges that create a subtle striped texture, their surface a muted warm gray with silvery undertones. Between certain panels, narrow vertical gaps admit slices of bright golden daylight that fall in dramatic parallelogram shapes across the floor. Speaking of the floor, it consists of polished concrete with such high reflectivity that it mirrors nearly the entire overhead structure, creating a doubled image that extends the sense of height. Along the top of the corrugated wall, massive concrete columns rise at regular intervals, perhaps fifteen to twenty feet apart, their surfaces rough and weathered to a warm taupe color suggesting decades of industrial use. These columns support an elaborate white-painted steel truss system that spans the ceiling like an intricate lattice, triangulated beams connecting in geometric patterns that catch and distribute the soft diffused light entering from translucent roof panels above. White cylindrical ducts weave through this truss network, their smooth surfaces contrasting with the angular steel members. A curved black metal track system sweeps along the ceiling, following an arc that suggests mechanical purpose, perhaps for moving exhibition elements or lighting equipment. The overall atmosphere feels both monumental and tranquil, the industrial scale tempered by the quality of light, warm where it enters through wall gaps, cool and even where it filters through the overhead glazing, creating a space that feels simultaneously massive and intimate.

The Wulin Star Expo belongs to the historical protected buildings three and four of the Hangzhou Oxygen Plant Complex. It was utilized sustainable design concepts to maintain the structure of historical buildings and the details of factory buildings and transformed the idle space inside the old factory buildings into positive and dynamic spaces. The Wulin Star Expo has become a beloved cultural living room for citizens.