The existing cultural centre at Erxianqiao served its neighbourhood well but hid its life indoors. The renovation turns the building inside out: an elliptical arena with stepped timber seating is raised onto the roof around a full sports court, with a garden ring and running deck wrapping the geometry.
Below, the renewed halls hold the citizens’ programmes — rehearsal, reading, exhibition, community meetings — behind a new veil facade of vertical fins that lets the building glow as a lantern in the evening. The centre becomes visible civic infrastructure: the neighbourhood’s activity, literally elevated.