Wencheng Forest Oxygen Bar Town Parlor / GLA Design

Curated by 韩双羽 - HAN Shuangyu

Architects: GLA Design
Area: 10800 m²
Year: 2019
Photographs:Li Yao
Manufacturers: Anji Tianchi Bamboo & Wood Industry, Jinggong, Shandong Qiaofeng, Shanghai Yaopi Glass Group, aderton

Text description provided by the architects. Surrounded by mountains, a large roof, more than 100 meters long and more than 30 meters wide, lies on one side of the mountain, leaning on a hillside about 300 meters high, and facing the west and the provincial road. In the settlement villages on the other side of the mountain, the residential houses lean against the mountain, and the eaves are cascaded. This is Xikeng Town, Wencheng County. As one of the four ethnic towns in Zhejiang, it has strong customs of She people. This large roof is Wencheng Forest Oxygen Bar Town Parlor.

Wencheng Forest Oxygen Bar Town Parlor / GLA Design - Exterior Photography, Beam — © Li Yao

As a national key ecological function zone, Wencheng has a forest coverage rate of 72.3% and abundant tourism resources. In addition to the natural landscapes such as Tongling Mountain Gorge, Baizhang Waterfall and Yanmen Grand Canyon, the Xikeng Town where the project is located also has such humanistic landscapes as Liu Ji’s hometown, Anfu Temple, and the folk customs of She people. This project, as a window to show the image of the town and the general situation of the town, integrates the functions of exhibition, reception, conference, tourism service and distribution. The total area of the project is about 10800 square meters, of which 5500 square meters of the basement is the distribution parking lot.

Traditional Dwellings, Contemporary Reconstruction
The project is a “parlor” to receiver visitors from all walks of life, and reflects local characteristics and regional culture at the same time. However, the traditional style of construction, with a volume of more than 5,000 square meters, is obviously huge and rare. Without changing the volume, the designer attempts to break this single sense of pressure visually.

The building abstracts the folded roof from the form of the local residential settlement, and takes advantage of the mountains for cascading. It can not only communicate with the traditional architecture on the scale, but also better match with the architectural language such as Chinese-style tiles, masonry walls and wood imitation structures. The volume of the building is divided into parts, so that it will not be too abrupt in the mountains, forming a good harmony.

Forest Parlor, Green Ecology
Under the large roof, with the diamond-shaped interspersed net frame system and the intertwined tree crown in the forest as the image, the tree crown group image between the forests is abstracted to a tensile architectural structure, which becomes the most expressive image feature of this case. The entire building is like an artificial forest in the forest. It perfectly blends with the forested hillside behind the project, which perfectly matches the positioning of the “forest oxygen bar parlor”.

Wencheng Forest Oxygen Bar Town Parlor / GLA Design - Exterior Photography, Glass — © Li Yao

The 45-degree interweaving pattern in the eave net frame system is inspired by the local colored ribbon patterns of She people. This is a reinterpretation of local traditional culture.

The hilltop building, which grows above the forest, may become another new business card of Wencheng tourism.

Bucket Arches and Double Eaves, Magnificent and Grand
Bucket arch is a unique structure of Chinese architecture, which can make the eaves extend outward to a large extent. It is a main feature of Chinese traditional architecture. The tree-like bracing structures under the eaves in this case stand out layer by layer, supporting the raised eaves, which has become the abstraction and simplification of the bucket arch archetype. The far-reaching double eaves are the inheritance and expression of the traditional architectural form.

The gray space under the eaves provides visitors with a comfortable public activity platform. Facing the mountains, overlooking the distant mountains, sitting and gossiping is a great relaxing experience. Facing the side of the provincial road, Qingtian Jade Carving Carpenter Creative Workshop and Fine Art Tea House have quietly opened. The square in front of the door matches with water features and various plants, making it a free and gathering public space.

Wencheng Forest Oxygen Bar Town Parlor is a design attempt to find the perfect fit between architecture and environment. The building born of the environment is the reason for its unique characteristics. By exploring traditional materials and construction techniques, the local, new and old technologies are perfectly matched. This thinking pattern and design strategy are worth continuing. In this way, the architecture can be constructed in the most appropriate way in the natural environment with evolving four seasons and the endless humanist traditions.