The Day Of Launching
THE DAY OF LAUNCHING
Arc Z Architects, Practice On Earth
ARCHITECTS
Arc Z Architects, Practice On Earth
LEAD ARCHITECTS
Haotian Wu, Cloe Yun Wang, Zi Meng
DESIGN TEAM
Haotian Wu, Yun Wang, Baolin Liu, Yuyang Tong, Wenze Zhang (Practice On Earth); Zi Meng, Yinuo Qiu, Guanming Huang(Arc Z Architects)
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT
De Li
LIGHTING CONSULTANT
Ela
CHIEF CURATORS
Xiangning Li, Changjun Gao
ON SITE COORDINATION
Feng Zhang, Wenjun Zhang
LDI
Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd.
FAÇADE CONSULTANT
Suzhou Shaoxinsi Architectural Technology
LDI TEAM
Zhuangbin Lin, Rong Cheng, Da Xue, Wenhui Jiang
CONSTRUCTION TEAM
Suzhou Shengyao Environmental Art Engineering Co., Ltd.
MANUFACTURERS
KadaRay
PHOTOGRAPHS
Qingyan Zhu, Action Media
AREA
90 m²
YEAR
2025
LOCATION
Shanghai, China
CATEGORY
Installations & Structures
English description provided by the architects.
As an installation for SUSAS 2025 (Shanghai Urban Space Art Season), this project is situated on Fuxing Island, Shanghai—once the former China Shipbuilding Factory, which relocated across the Huangpu River in the early 2000s.
The client initially asked for an intervention to enhance the slipway's exposed elevation. Yet on site we realized the slipway is more than a façade:
it traces the site's central axis and, more importantly, was the final stage where ships were assembled and launched. Rather than a surface upgrade, the project begins by activating a larger imagination embedded in the scale and memory of the place.
"Launching" marks the final act of shipbuilding—an evolving critical technique, and often the shipyard's most tense yet ceremonial moment. It is a test of precision and craft maturity, but also the release point of months, even years, of workers' commitment and expectation.
In the 1970s, the workers' writing collective at the China Shipbuilding Factory compiled a volume titled The Day of Launching, capturing the surge of space and emotion as laborers witnessed a vessel meet the river.
These words do more than describe a spectacular instant; they crystallize a distinctive bond between people, machines, and the waterway that carries them.
Inspired by this text, we titled the installation The Day of Launching.
A tilted stainless-steel mirror at the top forms a "periscope," guiding visitors' gaze over the immense slipway toward the red and blue launching gates by the river—reviving a monumentality once exhilarating, now increasingly forgotten.
Yet a VIP box above the slipway imposed a new constraint: it requires privacy, which conflicted with our ambition to look out to the water. In response, we rotated some modules by 180 degrees or left them deliberately "unfinished."
Unexpectedly, this not only resolved the practical issue, but also juxtaposed the heavy crane behind with the emerging shipyard across the river in the mirror's reflection, connecting history with the present.
Suspension, force, and assembly are the keys of forms distilled from the site—echoes of the industrial beauty embedded in each stage of shipbuilding.
We began with a ring-lock scaffolding system as the primary framework, assembling a "periscope" module through standard components and factory prefabrication.
For the structural behavior of each module, we worked closely with the structural engineer to refine the lower pipe frame to be as light and slender as possible—deliberately countering the heavy, conservative impression that scaffolding typically conveys
The angle-steel frame at the top, together with the diagonal bracing on both sides, intentionally creates a "top-heavy, light-footed" silhouette while providing robust lateral stability.
This gesture echoes the site's colossal cranes resisting gravity, and it also reflects our thinking on "assembly": neither the upper frame nor the lower scaffold can stand alone, yet once joined they interlock.
Through this tectonic experiment, we aim to resonate with shipbuilding's fundamental logic—modular assembly culminating in a collective launch. The installation is clad in an exceptionally affordable PVC mesh.
From a distance it reads with a surprising solidity and weight; up close it becomes a translucent veil. Its strong self-cleaning performance also makes it well-suited for daily exposure, while enabling shade and lingering beneath.
Extending the same constructive logic, we designed small pieces—loungers, benches, and tea tables—along the corridor, allowing the work to enter everyday use.
The structural module is fully derived from the slipway's existing column bays. As permanent interventions were not permitted, we developed a load-bearing clamp detail to connect to the original structure and secure lateral resistance.
This returns to the project's intention: not a surface-level upgrade, but a protective derivation and continuation built from the site's own framework.
