“Lying on Cloud”——Tourist Center of Yejiping Scenic Area in Liupanshui

“Usually beautiful scenery is beautiful because of people who enjoyed unique design ideas are usually come out of the inspiration of beautiful scenery; When certain heart and thought come across certain scenery, great work must be there.” This project is a product of the beautiful scenery and the ingenuity. The artificially visitor center “lied” above forest “bed”, blending into the boundless mountains created by the nature. The relationship between building and its surroundings create the image of “With the sun rising, mountains become visible out from clouds, the building lies on the cloud.” “Lying on the cloud” means integrating with the surrounding beautiful environment. Tourist service center mainly provide the space for resting, sightseeing with a total construction area of 641 ㎡, building height 5.2 meters.The project is located between two mountains and stretch over two hilltops with a span of up to 39 meters. The main force system of the building is space truss system. The floor system is a combination of compression steel plate and reinforced concrete floor plate. In the process of site survey the architect found the rhododendrons freely bloom. The natural landscape should not be destroyed by a prominent architecture. Therefore the tourist center should extend between the mountains in a disengaged way.One side of building is embedded in the mountain and the other edge is over the top of the mountain. By making one side hidden and the other side visible, the architecture is maintaining the original mountain skyline. The project is interspersed with patios, window and holes, steps, and pools in a limited space to separate the space from multiple stream lines. Entering the main entrance, the two corridors inside and outside leads to different destinations: one is to the viewing gallery where provides a distant mountain view under the roof, the other side is towards the roof for a panorama of the entire mountain. The west side of the roof connects to the mountain path. From the path people could directly wander to the roof, enjoying an unobstructed mountain view in the distance. Steps in west and east sides can be down to different functional spaces. In the east side, following the mountain path people can also pass through the outdoor platform to the viewing gallery and the roof. Spaces sometimes shrink, sometimes open, sometimes up and sometimes down. Views are beyond steps which lead to the integration of internal and external spaces. Various routes are created in limited space, forming a very interesting view corridor. About ‘Chinese’ and ‘land-based rationalism’: In response to the idea of combining traditional Chinese landscape gardens with contemporary architecture, the tourist center is trying to explain the principle of “the truth” at a tranquil atmosphere. Such an atmosphere guides people to be closer to themselves and deepen the thinking about the origin of all questions. It is the nature of people to pursue the truth.