Garden Hotpot Restaurant

Chengdu is famous for its warm temperament and leisurely lifestyle, which has attracted an increasing number of tourists to visit. As a part of local cultural elements, hotpot has become synonymous with Chengdu in terms of culinary culture and lifestyle. At the end of 2018, MUDA-Architects received the commission of Garden Hotpot Restaurant reconstruction. The site is located in Sansheng Township, a suburban area of Chengdu with remarkable natural conditions and ecological resources. MUDA-Architects takes this opportunity to integrate hotpot culture with natural ecological environment, creating a catering space that respects the original ecology and in line with modern consumption custom and pattern. Located in the hinterland of Sansheng Township, the site is hidden in eucalyptus woods surrounding a lotus pond. In order to generate a biophilic catering space with comfortable dinning ambience, MUDA decides to eliminate the architectural scale by installing pillars and plates and neglecting solid walls to lightly conceal the building in the woods. The spatial structure allows the restaurant to merge into the environment and facilitates the conversation between visitors and nature. The white roof and platform are designed in coordinating organic shapes with curves stretched to skirt the water body and interface with the eucalyptus woods. The platform is raised, and the whole roof is supported by thin pillars evenly distributed on both sides and vertically integrated into the woods, which resembles the steam of hotpot rising, lingering in the woods and diffusing into the air. Pillars also provide various visual frames to visitors, so that the scenery could be appreciated from different perspectives, adding interests to the experience on site. On the premise of respecting the natural environment and minimizing human intervention caused by construction on site, the shape of platform and roof are adjusted to cooperate with the site and meet the function demands. The structure has a circumference of 290 meters with a height of 3 meters as a whole. Anti-corrosive wood is adopted for platform, and the roof is built with galvanized steel sheet coated with white fluorocarbon paint, which complements the surrounding lush vegetation. Supporting pillars are completed with steel columns which have a diameter of 88mm, to coordinate with straight trunks of eucalyptus trees visually. Curved wooden railings are installed along the waterside to blur the boundary of the pond and bring people closer to the water. This project is also an experiment for MUDA to complete it in small scale with low cost. The construction team composed by local migrant workers, lacked in professional knowledge and tools. In order to ensure the quality, MUDA simplified complex structural nodes and made strategic adjustments in practice. On the other hand, steel structure welding technology greatly accelerated the construction process and reduced the cost.