treasure chest-inspired ‘desert galaxy camp’ is half-buried in the sand dunes

An illusory shape

Design firm 3andwich Design reveres the desert as mysterious, impermanent, calm, and warm. The firm’s designers then looked to the rolling dunes as their sacred ground and toyed with the concept of a treasure chest planted in the arid region. Using straight lines, geometric forms, and a huge rectangular plane half-buried in the yellow sand as the foundations of the building, 3andwich Design endows Desert Galaxy Camp with the narrative of a lost jewel in the embrace of wilderness, found by visitors braving the barren land.

Located in the Shapotou Touristic District in Zhongwei City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), China, the camp is steeped in history and a penchant for stargazing through its design curation and resulting look. Positioned in the northwest-southeast direction, the project’s general plan angles as an isosceles triangle with the bottom tip facing the Tennger Desert in the northwest.

This shape forms the illusion that the building nestles in the desert, half-buried. Perforated rusted steel plate covers the walls and skin of the camp building, and transparency through the small punctures across the design grants the flow of indoor and outdoor lines, air, and sight.

images by Weiqi Jin

Inside the galaxy camp

As guests step into the entrance that faces southeast, they find themselves in the main hall, gazing upon the four floors inside the treasure chest. The first floor opens up with a restaurant, the second floor with a multifunctional hall and cafe, the third floor with a VIP area, and the fourth floor with an equipment room.

Outdoor viewing platforms are installed on the northwest facade to favor looking at the landscape outside from inside. The tall ceilings, flanked with strips of wood and anchored by planes of steel, let the air and sunlight circulate. Asymmetry may mark the essence of the building, but such an aura is an intention of the designers. Double roofs house on top of the construction as a response to climate challenges.

According to the designers, the locals had recommended having a ‘cover’ when it comes to buildings in a desert. The double canopy prevents the direct penetration of the sunlight and rather cools the heat before it even enters the building. The first roof, formed by a rusted steel plate, blocks the sunlight and produces a shadowed area inside, one where the coolness of the wind permeates.

treasure chest-inspired ‘desert galaxy camp’ is half-buried in the sand dunes

Day and night

During the day, the rays that make it inside appear like unmoving stars while at night, guests may savor the stars either from the openness of the space or through the triangular cracks of the roofs. When the weather is clear, the mountains in the north accompany the desert journey, reminding the guests that nature lives in all forms.

The design team tied their architecture with the gift of nature, paying attention to the relationship between artifacts and the environment while steering away from simply imitating nature’s forms. In recent years, desert tourism in Zhongwei has increased, and the Desert Galaxy Camp not only provides supporting services for the camp, such as catering and reception but also serves as the symbol of the whole camp.

triangular holes of the roof