Guangzhou Tianhe Chuangxiang Commune

People often use cloud mountains and pearl waters to refer specifically to Guangzhou; the cloud mountain refers to Baiyun Mountain. Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area is in the north of Guangzhou, about 17 kilometres from the city centre, and is the southern extension of the Jiulian range. It is said that in autumn, white clouds often rise, covering one side of the mountain like a veil, hence the name. Baiyun Mountain is a cluster of more than 30 peaks, covering 28 square kilometres, with its highest peak, Moxing Ridge, at 382 metres, the highest point in urban Guangzhou. It is also one of the new eight sights of Yangcheng. The project site is on a quiet lane in Ganyuan Road, Baiyun District, east of Baiyun Mountain, next to Guangzhou Avenue. The existing buildings are two multi-storey warehouses from different periods. Building A is a four-storey printed-matter warehouse built in the 1980s, with a floor area of 9,980 square metres and a total height of about 17 metres; Building B is a new five-storey warehouse, with 12,000 square metres and a height of about 18 metres. The two buildings together cover about 21,980 square metres. The brief is to update the two vacant factories into a mixed live-work park centred on rental apartments and an incubation office base. The two multi-storey warehouses have little historical narrative or spatial character. To activate this dead-end, closed industrial site, the architects wrap the two blocks with a continuous external corridor and insert a series of courtyard-like voids that connect the apartments and offices to the street. The project is an adaptive reuse of two undistinguished warehouses, turning them into a live-work community that opens a forgotten corner of Baiyun District to new residents and start-ups.