M2 Art Centre / SpActrum

Architects: SpActrum
Area: 712 m²
Year: 2023
Photography: SFAP
Lead Architect: Yan Pan
Design Team: Hao Chen, Zhen Li, Yimeng Tang, Yijie Zhang, Xiao Wan, Jinyu Wan, Yiran Pan
Lighting Design: Xiaohao Guan
Special Curved Surface Construction: eGRow
Contractor: Beijing Jinghui Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd.
Customized Space Music: Beijing Beibai Music Culture Co., Ltd.
Client: MREGINA
City: Hangzhou
Country: China

M2 Art Centre multifunctional art space designed by SpActrum in Hangzhou, reimagines a former gym and swimming pool into a spatial journey of introspection, geometry, and symbolic transformation. Completed in 2023, the project centers on a metaphorical life path shaped by suspended forms and curved geometries. Architect Yan Pan uses GRG and GRP techniques, marble, and light films to achieve precise surfaces that suggest themes of autonomy, identity, and emotional depth. The space supports photography, exhibitions, and live events while creating a contemplative architectural platform for cultural expression in the city.

Designed by architect Yan Pan, founder and director of SpActrum, the M2 Art Centre in Hangzhou transforms a former fitness facility into a multifunctional cultural venue. Situated at the base of a high-rise office tower, the site previously housed a gym and swimming pool. The redesign introduces a spatial narrative that explores personal transformation, symbolic meaning, and emotional architecture. Accommodating fashion shoots, art exhibitions, and live events, the center serves as both a platform for creative work and an immersive environment for self-reflection.

The original structure consists of a 40-meter-long linear space with a partially sunken floor and a dramatic 10-meter-high volume at one end. When Yan Pan first visited the site, the verticality and proportions immediately suggested a powerful spatial potential. Instead of concealing the original structure, the design embraces and amplifies its features, using them as anchors for a new architectural language.

The concept is shaped around three design tensions. First, the transformation of a utilitarian interior into a flexible cultural space required maintaining the authenticity of the site while introducing new functions. Second, while the project includes a wedding dress showroom, it resists romanticizing traditional ideas of marriage, proposing instead a spatial experience that invites critical reflection, especially around personal choice and identity. Third, the design challenges architectural conventions by allowing multiple geometric systems to coexist, rather than enforcing a singular visual language.

SpActrum’s design approach is grounded in two primary strategies. The first uses geometry to structure emotion and meaning. Four geometric typologies define the space: flat geometry refers to the beginning of life and domestic origins; regular surfaces represent reason and classical clarity; free-form surfaces evoke natural transformation; and symmetrical free-forms symbolize divinity or transcendence. These formal systems are layered to guide visitors through a metaphorical life path, each spatial condition suggesting a different phase of inner development.

The second strategy focuses on fabrication and material. GRG and GRP technologies enable complex, curved surfaces that define the interior’s sculptural quality. White marble reinforces classical references, while translucent light films expand the spatial field and dissolve visual boundaries. These material decisions support the symbolic language and emotional clarity of the design.

The visitor’s journey begins in a transitional zone, where suspended black forms hang in dim light. One reveals a glowing aperture that leads into a domed chamber. The floor gently slopes upward, and the curved ceiling forms an arch that frames the space like an eyelid. This cocoon-like enclosure symbolizes the beginning of the spatial journey, representing origin or rebirth.

Beyond this threshold, the main space unfolds through the idea of an inverted valley. Suspended peaks, abstracted and elongated, hang from above and reverse the logic of gravity. These geometries are more expressive than natural hills, their profiles suggesting human senses—eyes, mouths, ears—made physical. As the ground plane slopes downward, the visitor passes beneath these forms, deepening the experience of movement through a surreal, anti-gravitational landscape.

The circulation path shifts diagonally, contrasting with the building’s original axis. Short vertical risers intersect with long angled steps, revealing exposed edges of the pool’s concrete shell. These elements connect the old and new, introducing a dynamic visual rhythm. The path descends into a recessed basin before rising again to form an elevated altar under a vaulted dome. This altar, solid and massive, reads as an object of ritual, positioned beneath a central light source. The light emphasizes the spatial climax, creating a sense of arrival and reverence.

The final chamber is the largest in the sequence. Suspended sculptural forms evoke facial features and body parts, symbolizing the emotional and social forces that influence an individual throughout life. These elements whisper, call, tempt, and challenge. Yet, seen in alignment with the central light shaft, they also imply resolution. The visitor’s gaze returns to the starting point, now seen with clarity and distance.

M2 Art Centre connects form, material, and concept with precision. The interplay of geometric systems and symbolic intent creates an architecture that is both emotionally resonant and spatially rigorous. Rather than presenting fixed meanings, the project invites personal interpretation. As a cultural space in Hangzhou, it not only supports creative production but also establishes a contemplative framework for engaging with identity, memory, and transformation.