Beijing, China

Combining the triptych architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture, Beijing-based Atelier Alter Architects managed to put up an immersive show within the landscape which is encompassed by the splendor of Western Hills, where the landscape becomes a living space.

Thus, they were short-listed for a 2021 International Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The distance landscape is introduced to the project in a dynamic rather than static way. A continuous path wrapped around from exterior to interior. The first nature of the landscape and the second nature of the interior space join seamlessly through the path. The ambiance along the path is circumferential and religious to some extent, as a way to worship nature.

As the site is triangulated, the project responds to the site, by stacking layers of curve walls, in a crisscrossing fashion to create layers of courtyards. Spatial demarcations are horizontal walls on the ground or suspended in the air. Seeking dialogue with the courtyard house in Beijing, as well as the Great Wall scenery nearby, the material used for the project is carefully proportioned masonry wall, and it is used throughout the landscape, architecture, and interior design. A uniform tone brings historic gravitas to the project.

The project encompasses a 1500sm space for the community and a 400sm skating rink. The project interprets nature in three ways: 1. the interior space depicts nature in a digital fashion. The signature image of “autumn foliage in Western Hills” is depicted in the field of glittering wooden laminated aluminum panels. The array of ceiling panels change color from warm yellow to white, suggesting the transition from entrance to skating ring. An “inverted Western Hills” is created by various curving arrays of ceiling panels.

First nature and second nature are juxtaposed and joined simultaneously. Recycle concrete blocks are cut into thin pieces and put together to form curving nature surfaces. The hills and waterfalls, created by thin masonry and lighting, show the solidification and abstraction of nature. The contrast between mortal and immortal nature gives people space to think critically about nature. Distance landscape is introduced into the interior in a dynamic way.

Project: WuliEpoch Culture Center
Architects: Atelier Alter Architects
Client: sino ocean group
Contractor: sino ocean group
Photographers: Atelier Alter Architects