Fishermen Light Cinema - Dongmen Pier Renovation

The "Fisherman Light Cinema" is not a traditional cinema, nor merely a rest stop or a passageway; it is a cinema that carries the stories of life. Whether for hurried tourists or locals who work and live here, everyone becomes a silhouette in the cinema, portraying the ordinary yet real life at a coastal pier. The design, themed “Fisherman’s Light,” renovates the pier’s passageway building and brings beautiful and hopeful life to the place.

Shipu Town, one of China’s oldest fishing villages, was the filming location for the 1930s internationally acclaimed movie “The Song of the Fishermen Light”. Today, it is known as the “City of Fisherman’s Light.” With the theme of “A New Era of Fishermen’s Light,” Shipu Town has become prosperous for its fishing culture and economy.

The project is located at Dongmen Pier in Shipu Town. As Shipu Town developed, the Dongmen Pier became almost obsolete, leaving its building in disrepair. The renovation preserves the main structure of the original building, maintaining its function as a passageway. The original small space on the side becomes a cafe. A second floor is added to provide a resting area for tourists. On this new floor, a viewing and meditation space extends outward, offering an unobstructed view of the pier.

The facade becomes the screen of the “cinema”. Inspired by shimmering sea waves, traditional fishing lanterns, and fishing nets, the façade introduces a unique texture related to the coastal fishing culture. It consists of polycarbonate sheets with three different transparency, thus reflecting and blurring the movement of people inside. At night, warm light illuminates the facade, casting a soft glow that turns it into a screen which plays the film of the real life at the pier.