Sited at the northwest of Shougang Park, the project is the most distinctive and stunning area with highest density of ironmaking equipment, as the starting of enterprise construction a century ago. The Park suspended production because of 2008 Summer Olympics, which remained silent until the announcement of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Nowadays, the meritorious blast furnace is open to the public in a more stunning image.
The design focuses on preserving the collective memory exclusive to the site, removing unnecessary industrial buildings, and constructing a dialogue between the blast furnace and nature, to inject new functions into the project. The design adopts two visiting circulations featuring nautilus shell spirals according to the prominent style of juxtaposing “industry” and “nature”. Visitors can have an immersive experience here to closely appreciate the combination of nature and industry, silence, and excitement.
A long dragon-like staircase is attached to the giant cavity steel truss on the west side of the Furnace, which winds from the main hall to the main exhibition hall, to guide visitors. The floor under the staircase is paved with ironstone and grain slag, combined with truss and half-space, which resembles mine and roadway. Long and circular perforated shading panels with holes of different sizes filter day lighting into the half-space, which expands the spatial distance while giving visitors more expectations of climbing higher. Blast-Furnace is transformed from a simple steel structure in the giant closed park into an open space welcoming the public. It is a historical industrial architecture, a scientific base of ironmaking crafts and techniques, as well as a holy space interpreting the combination of modern art and industrial heritage.
