SPIRIT OF THE JOURNEY
SITE
The site is an imagninary landscape with reference to the Cliffs of Cinque Terra in Italy. Facing the vastness of the sea and the sky while standing as an anchor in the wuthering winds, the cliff makes a sense of tranquility, which recalls the spirit of the travelling. Besides, in order to have a closer engagement with nature, the form of the building performs as digging up a piece of land to the midair.
CONCEPT
The concept of the design derives from the feeling of a whole journey. The linear interior space symbols the process of the journey. At the beginning of the travel, people may need to do some preparations and the function room in concert with the first stage of the travel. It cannot be avoided that people may experience a hard time of the journey, but this stage is exactly the most unique and memorable part. Then, with the strong mind and devout spirit, travelers keep climbing over the third stage—we could see that the destination is very near and the condition becomes better than every previous day. Finally, people could attend the most bright and open space to enjoy the ultimate beauty of the journey. The design tries to express the feeling of the traveler through different spaces.
The Sea
The Cliff
Stage 1 | Preparation
The entrance of the staging post is beneath the ground level and the beginning part is covered by a pool of water. While the architecture is facing the sea, travelers could feel the surrounding water when they approach it. When people go downstairs, the view of the environment and architecture would vanish from the water level and it implies the change of position and the mood as well. The concrete wall is the element of nature and it also symbols the roughness and hardship of the journey.
Stage 2 | Puzzle
After finishing the staircase part, travelers will arrive at an array of depolished glass maze. There is light diffused from the glass in the dark space. People would get puzzled and have a difficult time to find the access to the next inter-space. The depolished glass make travelers see the obscure profile of others but cannot reach each other. The experience represents a hard time of the journey. People may get lost but as long as there is light, they could solve the problem and make the experience as a treasure.
Stage 3 | Distortion
The upper staircase is around the twisted corner of the architecture. The underneath part and the suspended space are connected by the polished metal floor and roof. And the fantastic variation happens at the distorted corner. When travelers step on the stair, they will experience the change of position of the roof.
Stage 4 | Extension
After the up and down in the journey, travelers would arrive at their destinations. It could be a beautiful scene or a relaxing resort. The same feeling can be unconstrained and carefree. So the wide and open view assisted by the floor and roof’s reflection of sea and sky could fully liberate the tension of nerves and muscle as well.