The Streaming Light Exhibition Hall, designed by Daipu Architects, has won the Popular Choice Award in the Architecture + Metal category and was named a Finalist in the Architecture + Facades category at the 2025 Architizer A+ Awards. This dual recognition from one of the world’s most prestigious architecture awards underscores the project’s innovation in design and material expression on a global stage.
The Architizer A+ Awards is one of the largest and most influential architecture awards worldwide, organized by the leading architecture platform Architizer. Celebrating the most creative and impactful architecture, spaces, products, and design leaders globally, the awards are determined through a combination of a professional jury and public voting. With thousands of entries from over 100 countries annually, the A+ Awards are regarded as a vital benchmark in contemporary architectural discourse.
Streaming Light Exhibition Hall is situated in Caijiapo Village, Huyi District, Xi’an, and is part of a rural courtyard revitalization initiative for the Guanzhong Mangba Art Festival. The site, previously a dilapidated kitchen and storage space, was frequently flooded during summer rains. Confronting these challenges, the design team addressed fundamental structural and drainage issues while proposing a courtyard renewal strategy that blends vernacular language with contemporary spatial interpretation.
Inspired by traditional wave-shaped roof tiles common in the Guanzhong region, the team reinterpreted this element into a dynamic metal façade that cascades along the sloped roof, resembling a flowing curtain. A circular passageway inserted at the gallery entrance invites visitors into the courtyard’s north end. This passage triggers the rotation of the metal mesh curtain and extends into radial paving lines—serving both as spatial articulation and an integrated rainwater drainage system.
“Winning the Popular Choice Award is an inspiring honor for our team,” said Dai Pu, Principal Architect. “We hope this project encourages people to imagine new relationships between nature and space. Flowing Light Gallery centers around interaction—with light, water, materials, and people—creating a space that is participatory and full of movement.”
The project uses prefabricated stainless steel perforated panels, manufactured in segments and assembled rapidly on-site. The size and spacing of the perforations were precisely calibrated to create layered effects, including transparency, mirror reflection, and shadow. As daylight shifts, so too does the spatial atmosphere: at times, the metal mesh reflects the sky like a mirror; at others, it becomes nearly transparent, revealing the original brick architecture behind.
Inside the gallery, the original brick partitions were removed to create a more fluid and open exhibition space. The roof was reinforced with a lightweight triangular steel frame. The old kitchen chimney was preserved and transformed into a skylit niche, which can be used both for displaying artworks and as a quiet resting alcove.
“This project not only responds to climate and site constraints,” added Zhao Xinyu, Project Architect, “but also explores new cultural possibilities for rural architecture in a contemporary context.”
