Bailuwan Cherry Blossom Town, Rizhao

Project Description

The client proposed to bring a natural but artistic atmosphere to the site. The project respects the original natural mountain atmosphere and the essence of the orchard. It features three elements: The design of a pure cherry orchard, elevated in the sky. A base of emerging curved textured walls made from local granite boulders form a strong image and blur the boundary of vertical wall and horizontal path. Winding roads covered in cherry blossom petals complete the impression of the forest valley.



It is a very impressive project. It was created entirely from local materials and really lets passers-by reflect a different spatial experience. Visitors walk through a kind of curved path that is lined with rough stones and cherry trees are planted above these stones, which of course are in bloom. That means you get a great atmosphere. It immerses passers-by for a brief moment in a completely different world.



Innovation

We strived to intervene in the site and applied the way of on-site design to understand the site condition and local materials.



With the spirit of “rooting” in the site, we adopted the strategy of integrating landscape and land, and used unique skin technique to abolish the boundary between horizontal and vertical structures.



Challenge

Big steep, bare rock, loess land…How to balance the relation between landscape and site, how to blur the boundary between horizontal and vertical structures, and how to use local resources to create a natural feeling were what we should solve.



Sustainability

Rubble, was a witness to the era of the change of site. We used rough stones which were originally from the site and processed them into stone veneer. Local craftsmen used traditional techniques and modern expressions to take the locality. People and nature were guarding this place in the same way.