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Architects: Studio 10
- Area: 136 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Chao Zhang
Text description provided by the architects. Nestled at the base of Shiyaling Mountain and neighboring the artistic hub of Dafen Oil Painting Village to the south, the Pavilion of Pastel Shadows is strategically designed to serve park visitors engaging in sports and mountain climbing activities. It transcends its primary function as a public restroom, evolving into a serene rest stop for athletes and climbers alike.
The property is bordered by a lush, vegetated slope on one side and a bustling road with pedestrian traffic and sports facilities on the other. It features six majestic trees that provide a canopy of green throughout the year and a symphony of birdsong at dawn. To maximize the preservation of the site’s natural ecology, we conducted a detailed survey of the trees’ trunks and branches early in the planning process. The architectural layout is intentionally woven around these natural elements, with functional spaces strategically placed near the roadway and adjacent buildings to minimize disruption to the trees and their avian inhabitants on the site. A canopy is set above the site, connecting all the discrete functional "boxes" while being strategically punctured to accommodate the trees’ branches, forming naturally shaped eaves. Facing the lush backdrop of the hillside, the pavilion offers a tranquil semi-outdoor space where visitors can rest, engage with and appreciate the beauty of nature.
Outdoor sinks and benches, crafted from the original tree pits, invite interaction and contemplation, allowing visitors to enjoy the mountain scenery, listen to birds, and hear the rainfall while relaxing or washing their hands.
Drawing inspiration from the playful shadows cast by the site's arboreal residents, the architectural design incorporates these patterns onto its roofs and facades, manifesting as a series of skylights and perforations, which serve not only the practical purposes of lighting and ventilating the public restrooms but also poetically preserve and reinterpret the dynamic memory of light and shadow native to the site, offering glimpses of the lush canopies and dappling the interiors with speckles of green and light. This shadow play extends to smaller elements, like the sink mirror and the casings of hand dryers and paper towel dispensers, mirroring the site's dynamic interplay of light and shadow.
The building's aesthetic, influenced by the artistic heritage of Dafen Oil Painting Village, features neutral pastel colors and textures that echo the essence of oil paintings, blending the pavilion into the green, mountainous backdrop.
