Located just South of Chengdu, the Pujiang Platform blends in perfectly with its hilly surroundings, turning the location into a visitor destination and event space.
The hilly region surrounding Chengdu, the capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan province, is a much-loved sight among visitors. In the past, a lookout had been created by flattening a hill to the south of the city, thus turning it into an accessible point of interest for those who wanted to get an overview of the area.
Dutch architecture studio MVRDV, commissioned by the local government agency Pujiang County Planning and Resources Bureau, has now given a new lease of life to the area. Their so-called Pujiang Platform is made from timber and has a grass-covered roof, which visually restores the hill that was flattened in the past.
“The hills of this region are truly a spectacular sight, so one of the challenges we faced was to make the most of those views while reducing the impact on the landscape. By adding a hill-shaped pavilion with a green roof, we not only minimise our own impact, but we also recreate the hill that was there before,” MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs explained.
The structure does not just simply provide shelter for visitors but also turns the site into a more all-round visitor destination and event space, while the projecting balcony offers an entirely new experience. Standing there, the curious-minded can overlook the new town of Pujiang, currently under construction, as well as the Qionglai Mountain range.
Attention to detail
While entering through a glass facade on the southeast side of the pavilion, visitors get to enjoy a so-called telescopic viewing effect, created by an upwards-sloping roof and a downward-sloping floor. Through the 10-meter-tall windows, visitors finally get access to the balcony. Outside, MVRDV also put its stamp on the paths surrounding the pavilion. Particularly, a spiral staircase was added, winding upwards to a secondary viewpoint.
While designing the Pujiang Platform, MVRDV paid special attention to the materials and the overall sustainability of the structure. By opting for a timber structure, the architecture studio hopes to make wood a more evident choice within the Chinese construction industry. A geothermal heat pump provides part of the pavilion’s energy needs, and existing waterways have been used for rainwater collection and irrigation.
“This act of preserving and respecting nature is the essence of the design, which is continued in the construction approach, using biobased materials such as wood that are more sustainable and thus have less impact on natural environments such as this one”, van Rijs continued.
Since its foundation in 1992, Rotterdam-based MVRDV has been active all across the globe. According to their website, 62 of those are located in China alone. Grass-covered roofs and an attention to sustainability are often-recurring parts of their projects, such as in their design for the Zhangjiang Future Park or the Shenzhen Terraces.
