Benxi Culture and Arts Center

The Benxi Culture and Arts Center is located south of the Benxi Museum Square in Liaoning Province. It serves simultaneously as an art gallery for cultural and artistic exhibition in Benxi and as a gathering and office space for artists and writers. The building has four above-ground floors and one basement level. The ground floor and basement are connected through indoor-outdoor spatial links and a sunken courtyard, forming an independent, open shared space and exhibition area. The second, third, and fourth floors house the literary federation offices, creative studios, and conference spaces respectively. Public staircases wind and interlace upward, connecting each floor in varied configurations. The double-pitch roof with clerestory windows gently raises the otherwise monotonous skyline around the museum square. Combined with the angular cut at the site corner and the outward-protruding stair forms, this creates a new artistic urban vitality. Recessed openings carved into the rock-like solid volume serve both functional needs for outdoor rest and allow the enclosed interior to radiate outward through apertures of varying forms and directions, generating a quiet yet gentle strength. The building's monolithic, rock-like presence contrasts with the surrounding civic architecture while its carved openings introduce light and create visual porosity. The design prioritizes honest material expression and spatial clarity, with the public staircase acting as a vertical organizing device that connects different programs and encourages informal encounter among artists, writers, and visitors. The center contributes to the cultural infrastructure of this northeastern Chinese industrial city, providing a venue where creative communities can gather, work, and exhibit.