Excerpt: The Visitor Center at Longquan Mountain, an architecture project by Atelier LI, serves both tourists and locals, offering versatile public spaces. Two main volumes integrate with the sloping terrain, with an elevated lower volume connecting offices, meeting rooms, and reception areas. Blending modern design with local culture, it aims to host community activities and introduce an urban leisure lifestyle to the area.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Located in the Longquan Mountain, 40 km far from Chengdu city, the visitor center plays a mixed role, not only serving tourists but also local villagers by providing public spaces. Two main volumes are placed on the sloping site. The lower volume is elevated, connecting linearly in series community offices, meeting rooms and a reception room, to form an entrance keeping the continuity between the inner terraced square and the outer area with the level of the road.
People get in below the elevated volume and arrive at the terraced square covered by wood and greenery, where the sense of place created promotes the imitate feeling for visitors and residents to the building. The upper volume sits on the top and assembles cafeteria, retail, displaying spaces and a small library in a complex way, providing an interior public space for salon and local product market.
A ramp system connecting the two volumes and different levels is set on the side to enhance the feeling of surrounding, so that an interior and exterior public space will be better formed, where native products fairs and little performances are held. The architects hope that this contemporary architectural design can host local activities and bring an urban sophisticated leisure lifestyle.
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