A Manifesto of Steel & Brick.

Wuhan, China

Awards: Winner of Architwist REGENERATION competition Cube design_The 19th Architectural Talent Award_Second Prize

How can a factory remember its workers?

At the former Hanyang Iron Plant in Wuhan, the remains of production carry a history of work, separation, and control. The proposal translates workers’ experiences into a route through the factory. Curved walls, elevated ramps, and new public rooms bring that history into contact with the everyday life of the city.

Interior rendering of the factory renovation, with an elevated curved volume, retained brick walls, overhead light, and visitors at different levels — Hanyang / A route through memory
New curved spaces meet the existing factory fabric. The route connects different levels, placing visitors in changing relationships with the building and with one another.

01 / Factory + city

Open the factory to everyday life.

The factory district stands apart from the surrounding city, yet informal uses such as graffiti and skateboarding suggest ways for people to return. The proposal builds on those encounters. Opening the perimeter and breaking down the scale of the industrial spaces makes room for public routes, gardens, and places to pause. Digital publishing and exhibitions introduce new uses alongside the retained industrial fabric.

Site plan showing the long factory building, curved interventions, adjoining industrial remains, paths, and planted public spaces — The site / Reconnecting the grounds
Paths and landscape connect the renovated factory with neighbouring industrial remains. The project treats the grounds as part of the public experience, extending the visit beyond the building itself.

A gate. A passage. A glance from above.

02 / Memory into space

Give memory a spatial form.

The design draws on six episodes of factory life: the gate, the passageway, the tower, surveillance, the changing roles of worker and supervisor, and isolation. These become a sequence of spatial situations. A preserved wall guides movement; a tower makes differences of scale felt; openings allow visitors to observe one another. Quarter-circle, semicircular, and circular forms organise the route within the factory’s orthogonal structure.

Diagram tracing six factory memories through a sequence of circulation, programme, and curved spatial interventions — Memory / Route / Programme
The transformation proceeds from remembered experiences to a visitor route, then to new programmes and spatial prototypes. The curves take their place within this sequence of decisions.

Six axonometric spatial studies pairing gates, passages, towers, observation, role reversal, and isolation with curved architectural forms — Six episodes / A vocabulary of arcs
Each study links a social relationship to an architectural operation. Movement, scale, sightlines, and planting give the episodes different spatial expressions.

03 / Walking the route

Move through it. See it from another position.

An elevated curved ramp threads through the retained structure, linking exhibitions and digital publishing spaces. The sequence moves from an entrance among equipment and planting to a theatre, an elevated exhibition space, and windows overlooking the route. Changes in height and visibility recall the unequal relationships of the factory: visitors may look down on a space, then find themselves being watched from another level.

First-floor plan showing curved rooms and circulation inserted into the regular column grid of the long factory building — First floor / A continuous thread
Read the arcs against the repeated structural bays. The route connects rooms across the factory while preserving the legibility of its original order.

Second-floor plan showing a curving elevated route, circular openings, rooms, and changing floor levels within the factory grid — Second floor / Following the elevated route
The curved route links the upper rooms and opens views toward the spaces below. Compare it with the first floor to trace how movement and visibility change with height. Drawings developed with Ruoxi Li.

Third-floor plan showing a narrower arrangement of upper rooms, connecting paths, and openings within the industrial hall — Third floor / Above the shared spaces
The upper plan reveals the rooms and connections that continue above the lower levels. Read the three plans together to locate the voids and overlaps along the visit. Drawings developed with Ruoxi Li.

Four annotated sections above a long physical model showing the entrance, theatre, exhibition space, and intersecting views along the factory route — In section / Four moments along the route
The sections and model show how the interventions occupy the existing industrial hall. The entrance, theatre, raised exhibition, and visual crossings give the continuous route distinct moments.

Construction cutaway with a wall detail and a legend distinguishing existing, demolished, and inserted structure across the factory's levels — At the joint / Existing and inserted
The cutaway distinguishes the retained fabric from demolition and new construction. Floors, walls, and openings show how the new spaces meet the industrial building at the scale of a joint.

Rendering of visitors sitting on broad curved steps beneath an elevated concrete volume beside the factory’s retained brick walls — A place to gather
Stepped seating introduces a public room within the tall industrial space. The proposed theatre accommodates exhibitions, presentations, films, and other shared activities.

View through a dark-framed opening toward industrial remains and an elevated curved ramp with a visitor above — Looking / Being seen
An opening brings the elevated path and the space below into one view. The design uses these visual crossings to evoke the experience of observation and supervision.

04 / Room for today

Let the route end in ordinary life.

At the end of the commemorative route, a bookshop among planting offers a quieter place to read and watch people pass. The landscape connects the factory with an adjacent industrial relic, whose bare structure frames views back toward the renovation. Reading, walking, and gathering bring a new rhythm to the site, allowing its public life to develop alongside the memory of work.

Curved elevated ramp passing between brick walls and hanging planting, with visitors walking toward a sheltered opening — Through the garden
The ramp carries the route into planting and smaller spaces. Its changing surroundings bring the scale of the industrial hall back toward the individual visitor.

Glazed corridor with a visitor raising a camera beside a window overlooking planting — A quieter ending
The bookshop and planted edge offer a place to withdraw while remaining aware of life outside. The visit ends with room to stay.

Memory / Movement / Public life

Keep the traces. Make room for new lives.

The proposal carries workers’ memory through the organisation of space: where people enter, how they move, and who they can see. Opening the factory to everyday use allows this history to remain part of the city’s present.

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Location: Wuhan, China
Studio: HUST Studio project
Instructor: Wei Zhou
Collaboration: Ruoxi Li
Area: 3,540㎡
Recognition: Winner of Architwist REGENERATION competition Cube design_The 19th Architectural Talent Award_Second Prize

Next projectThe Cubes: On Security and Sanctuary.