Firm： Architectural Design & Research Institute of Tsinghua University Co., LTD.

Type： Cultural › Cultural Center Government + Health › City Hall Community Center Landscape + Planning › Urban Green Space Masterplan

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2019

SIZE： 300,000 sqft - 500,000 sqft

BUDGET： $100M +

The project is located in the core urban area of Yan An, and also in Baota Mountain Scenic Area, which is the most important tourist attraction in downtown Yanan. The tourist service center faced many problems such as damaged ecological environment in the surroundings, cultural discontinuity, insufficient supporting facilities and unsustainable urban development. The tasks were to accommodate functions such as tourist services, consulting, exhibition, and parking, etc..

The design took ecological security as the core. It responded to the risk of collapse of the surrounding slopes, mountain paths, rocks and cave dwellings through reinforcement measures, while at the same time working out flood discharge as well as soil and water conservation strategies to cope with possible geological disasters in the future. On this basis, it systematically restored the ecology of the site and its surroundings and created a series of dynamic spaces with a sense of belonging.

The project team preserved and restored those valuable historical buildings, designed a circulation route to connect those important nodes.

The project adopted the techniques of landscape architecture, to embed the tourist service center between the mountain and river and to let its main volume “dissolve” and blend into the surroundings. Meanwhile, the rooftop of the new building was turned into green fields and squares.

The project explored the way of harmonious symbiosis between human and nature. It utilized local materials and discarded sandstone on the site, so as to carry the memories of the site and showcase its characteristics.

The architecture utilized local beige sandstones, which were laid seamlessly by local craftsmen based on traditional techniques. In this way, the project contributed to inheriting and protecting local traditional craftsmanship, and also provided working opportunities for local craftsmen and hence achieved great social benefits.