Atmosphere as under a floating "cloud". Restaurant y Sea by Vector Architects
21/01/2020.
[Beidaihe New District] China
metalocus, JOAN MARSET
metalocus, JOAN MARSET
Project description by Vector Architects
After the "Seashore Library" and "Seashore Chapel", "Restaurant y Sea" completes the trilogy of Vector Architects' seashore series at Aranya Community in Beidaihe New District. The restaurant is situated right behind the library across the beach. We initiated the design by investigating how to create a coexisting relationship with the mighty solid library volume.
The library is a spiritual place with a clear boundary. The natural elements, like wind, light and surrounding views, are defined and shaped throughout the space where people can gaze upon the sea while sitting in the terraced library. As for the restaurant, we intend to establish a dispersed and a more casual everyday atmosphere. Instead of the seascape being the visual focus for people, as it is in the library, it acts as the backdrop in the restaurant. People will notice what happens on the sea as they dine and inadvertently glance towards it.
Trees are interlocked within the fragmented spatial boundary and courtyards. The architecture appears as a non-directional canopy floating above the undulant landscape, looming in the woods. From top to bottom, the tree crowns, building roof, and dining area underneath constitute the three major layers in the section sequentially. Tree branches sway with the sea breeze and cast their shadow through the skylights onto the wall and floor. The dining space becomes animated with the flickering of light and shadow, cultivating another dimension of indirect engagement between space and nature.
The inner tree courtyards bring light and airflow deep into the restaurant, and at the same time, like hinges, they anchor the space. The courtyards simultaneously divide and connect the surrounding spaces. The full height fair-faced cast-in-place concrete walls of the courtyards resist the sheer force of the whole building, which makes it possible to support the load of the thick eaves on columns of only 120mm in diameter. This way, the slender steel elements, similar in diameter to the surrounding tree trunks, blend in the surrounding woods.
There is no designated main entrance for the restaurant. Instead, clear glass sliding doors are placed along the perimeter, which, when fully opened, cause the spatial boundary to disappear, turning the building into a "pavilion". People can approach the dining space from any direction. They will firstly step into a transitional space with a lowered eave, and then gradually walk into the main dining area under a raised-up central roof, illuminated by immersive natural light.
We consciously reduce the interference of excessive side light by controlling the clear height of the eaves, in order to create an atmosphere of being under a floating "cloud" as a result of the light-filtering waffle beams. The waffle beams remit the need for strictly aligned load-bearing elements and minimize the amount of structural walls, which help achieve the staggered fluidity of the plan.
We envision that each type of architecture can essentially refer to a unique lifestyle as well as the emotional expression corresponding to it. These various public spaces take on a meaning beyond that of an everyday space. The demand of people's lives sculpts them, while in the other way around these spaces affect people's lives.
Light, wind and view in architecture are all the paths leading people to interact with nature. They closely integrate people with the outside world, and ultimately, an everyday space will imply a kind of spiritual meaning.
GONG DONG, one of the most active young architects in China, received Bachelor & Master of Architecture from Tsinghua University, followed by a diploma at University of Illinois where he received the Master of Architecture. He also had an exchange experience at Technical University of Munich. During his study in America, Gong Dong received several awards including Excellence Award from Steedman Fellowship International Architectural Design Competition, 2000; First Prize from American Institute of Architects Chicago Chapter’s Student Design Competition,2001 and Excellence Award from Malama Learning Centre International Architecture Design Cmpetition,2002. Prior to establishing his own practice he worked for Soloman Cordwell Buenz & Associates in Chicago, then at Richard Meier & Partners and Steven Holl Architects in New York.
VECTOR ARCHITECTS was founded in 2008, Beijing. During seven years practice, we have always believed that design needs to confront problems, and it should be the attitude an architect ought to possess. Instead of enforcing architect's self-conscious or following icons and superficial forms, a good design has to respect the existing environment with support of logic and reasons. The contemporary Chinese design industry today is rather blundering that the rapid production and pursuit of landmark in height, size and form have become the main stream.
Architects no longer devote their effort for the fundamental and substantial truth of architecture. In this environment, the persistence of confronting problems remains essential and crucial. In every project, Vector Architects is devoted to discover the unrevealing relationship and various possibilities in existing context. Through our design, to create the new perception and experience which are exclusive to each project. The sense of ‘being here’ is uniquely established and reflected in percipient's emotion and action. Therefore, the space, being the vessel of living, has formed an irreplaceable connection between place and experience.