CULTUBE

An intervention mediating between architectonic and urban scale in order to regenerate a neighbourhood, serve local residents, and surprise visitors beneath a shopping mall complex in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province.

The project converts an ordinary underground evacuation passageway into a multifunctional cultural space, something new in the urban context of Kunming. The same passage connects several sunken entrance plazas transformed into botanic gardens, small hidden paradises inside the complex.

Fixed elements (new flooring connecting three independent parts, black paint backgrounding the inherited reality of the tube) liberate the space for expositions. A singular footbridge gives identity while respecting evacuation dimensions in case of emergency.