Shanxiao Sales Pavilion: A Symphony of Architecture and Nature

Exploring Larry Wen's Award-Winning Design, a Fusion of Traditional Culture and Modern Aesthetics

Larry Wen's Shanxiao Sales Pavilion is more than just a sales office; it's a cultural event. The project, which began in 2018 and was completed in August 2019 in Chongqing, China, is a stunning example of how architecture can be a harmonious extension of its natural surroundings. The sales office, although small in scale, is intricately detailed and subtly nestled within the landscape, embodying the concept of seclusion.

What sets the Shanxiao Sales Pavilion apart is Wen's innovative use of traditional architectural culture and natural landscape as the main tempo. Through modern technical language and artistic creation techniques, these elements are transformed into a unique architectural language. The result is a structure that allows visitors to experience the artistic conception of being hidden in nature.

The building's facade is a technical marvel. It uses a perforated plate as a louver to protect against the sun, with the louver's shape inspired by the cloud of Nanshan. The perforated leaves float around the curtain wall, resembling a long scroll landscape painting. The changes in the facade mimic the clouds and fog that stretch across Nanshan. This, combined with glass curtain walls with gradual mist and perforated louvers, gives the impression that the building is floating in the clouds.

Symbolic interaction, a major theoretical perspective within sociology, plays a significant role in the design. It demonstrates how the designed physical environment and the self are intertwined, with one potentially influencing and finding expression in the other. The architecture contains and communicates shared symbols, inviting a different kind of self-reflection.

The project presented several challenges, primarily due to its location in Nanshan, Chongqing. Nanshan is a region rich in tourism resources, including natural scenery, cultural landscape, and specialties. In recent years, Nanshan has seen the emergence of commercial buildings with cultural connotations such as bookstores and homestays. These buildings, simple in design yet distinctive in shape, have made Nanshan synonymous with elegance and introversion, a sentiment that resonates with Tao's poetry.

The Shanxiao Sales Pavilion's unique design and innovative approach to architecture have not gone unnoticed. In 2020, it was awarded the Golden A' Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award, a prestigious accolade granted to marvelous, outstanding, and trendsetting creations that reflect the designer's prodigy and wisdom. This award recognizes products and ideas that advance art, science, design, and technology, embodying extraordinary excellence and significantly impacting the world with their desirable characteristics.