Chinese studio Open Architecture has designed a theatre and library at the Shanghai Qingpu Pinghe International School China within a blue-coloured building that resembles a whale.
Named the Pinghe Bibliotheater, the building was designed by Open Architecture to combine two theatres with a library in one structure that would be a visual marker for the international school in Shanghai.
Open Architecture designed the Pinghe Bibliotheater at a school in Shanghai
"As the most important part of a high-density campus for a new K-12 school in Shanghai, the bibliotheater makes an unusual combination of two key components of teaching spaces, library and theatre, into one compact geometry," said Open Architecture co-founder Li Hu.
"It is a round-cornered triangle in plan, to relate to the urban intersection, and with a sloped cut on the top to minimize its impact facing the ancient moat," he told Dezeen. The blue coloured building has been compared to a blue whale
According to the studio, the combination of its colour and form has lead to the Pinghe Bibliotheater becoming known as "the blue whale", something that they believe is fitting for the building
"We like the analogue of a blue whale, the largest mammal on earth, with mysterious things inside this body," said Open Architecture co-founder Huang Wenjing, who is a judge of this year's Dezeen Awards.
"I think blue was probably a decision with this giant mammal in mind," she to...