DnA: 3 public activity centers in changbaishan

chinese firm DnA design and architecture has designed three public activity centers located at changbaishan. changbaishan is a mountain that runs across three provinces in northeast china, which also forms a natural boundary between china and north-korea. as a sleeping volcano for over three hundred years, this area has been a national park which attracts tourists from all over the world.

the three public buildings are located in a triangular geometry in baixi town, to create trial town activity centers. the definition of each public space is generated from the program of individual buildings, creating three different public territories with unique settings and atmosphere, while the overall organization becomes a public space system in baixi.

with a location crossing a creek on site, and a program of majority water sports such as swimming pool, leisure pool, spa, and other supporting facilities, we spread out all the water program on first floor, along with outdoor water plaza to form a water topography, with the rest programs crossing above like bridges. the interaction of bridges creates vertical voids overlooking water topography, channeling light and visual dialogues toward water surface from bridges.

glass partitions are used inside without interfering the visual dialogues. water becomes an important building material here with its wave and the reflections on other surfaces when interacting with light. a glass skin is also wrapped around the exterior white walls, etched with a white floral patterns. on cloudy days, the building appears blank with a white surface. when the sun comes, shadow of white floral patterns on the wall behind appear. the shadow pattern on building surface captures the movement of sun and light.

info tree – exhibition and information center
image courtesy dna

info tree:
as an arrival facility to visitors, this building is to introduce tourism attractions
and geographic information of changbai mountain. the program requires exhibition
space, café, gift shop, management office, and a viewing platform above 20meters in
elevation. so the public area stretches up like a changbaishan pine tree, with a continuous
exhibition space starting from ground level, to a glass-wall enclosed café at the top floor,
and a roof terrace with a view of 360 degree.

the rock:
the building program of karaOk, theater and multi-function ballroom requires individual
spaces that are not necessarily interfering with each other or the surroundings. these spaces
are regarded as rocks, with disconnection between inside and outside. the stepping floor
of theater sitting on top of lower level café interacts with the ground to create a sunken
casual performing garden, while a sloping roof for acoustical purposes in each rock space
unifies the roof level becoming a roof theater to host outdoor concerts.

concrete is used as both structure and surface material. a raw concrete surface is left without
polishing assembling the local rocky mountain surface.

site plan
image courtesy dna

credits
client: changbaishan construction committee
design team: dna _beijing
architect: xu tiantian
design period: 2007
completion: 2008-10
building area: 3x1000sm