Wujiang District, Suzhou, China
Taking exploration and perception as a starting point, the Group of Architects has created the Restaurant of Metasequoia Grove in Shanwan Village, a lakeside restaurant in China, capped with a cluster of dynamically arranged latticed pyramids sliced flat at the top.
The architects did not follow the logic of conventional spatial design by leveraging sequence organization to enclose the courtyard space, which connects with the future community and urban surface and highlights the interaction between people and spatial scenes.
Restaurant of Metasequoia Grove in Shanwan Village has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
“Rather than being just an architectural construction, the project is more of a landscape that immerses into its natural context, eventually becoming part of nature. It delivers joyful moments by the water and peaceful nature experiences where architecture enables new ways of seeing the landscape,” explain the architects.
The structure rises idyllically from a rural woodland in China, citing a direct influence on the site’s terrain – the form of the conical metasequoia trees blessing the ground in abundance were abstracted and translated into pure geometries of pyramidal frustums, as a study into a “modular” architectural language for the project.
The modules crowning the building rise and reach diverse heights, forming a continuous, choreographed canopy that traces and embodies an artificial forest profile growing amid nature.
The side facing the road employs unique landscape walls. An enclosed transitional space with a sense of ritual is organized inside.
This pure grayish-white space takes visitors to a dreamy wonderland for exploration.
The façade is based on a curved design and treated through extraction, deformation, and integration. The curved chamfers eliminate the sharpness of the building and strengthen its softness.
The transparent low-E glass endows the façade with lightness and openness.
The form and proportions of a building are the foundation of architectural aesthetics. The design team hollowed out parts of the facade and coordinated the scale of volumes, hence bringing a magnificent, elegant visual effect.
Additionally, the subtle fusion of solidness and void gives the building a new fabric.
The transitional space makes the shift between solidity and delicacy more natural. Cool and warm tones extracted from the color palette of Giorgio Morandi’s paintings are fused, which highlights the rational and restraining appearance of the construction.
Project: Restaurant of Metasequoia Grove in Shanwan Village
Architects: GOA (Group of Architects)
General Contractor: Shanghai Communication Construction Co., Ltd.
Client: Suzhou Fenhu Investment Group Co., Ltd.
Photographers: Zhao Yilong, Lanzhen, and GOA
