STUDIO LINK-ARC, YUNLU WETLAND MUSEUM, GUANGDONG, CHINA
Founded in New York City by Yichen Lu, Studio Link-Arc, is an international team of architects and designers working in the fields of urban planning, architecture, spatial art, and landscape. Yunlu Wetland Exhibition Hall of Heron, located at Shunde Yunlun Wetland Park, next to the bird sanctuary island where 25,000 herons live, is the combination of bird observation tower and wetland exhibition gallery, meant to provide visitors a special bird watching experience and raise their awareness of the wetland ecosystem.
The building sits behind a row of existing sequoia forest, hidden in the woods, to minimize the existence. It consists of four vertically stacked concrete tubes, each of which is rotated according to the current conditions of the site to optimize the view, with the first to fourth floors looking out to the roots, trunks, crowns, and treetops of the trees, acting like four camera viewfinders, allowing one to see the activities of the herons on the trees at different heights throughout the day.
The roof of the building is covered by a lotus pond, and the ecological water feature weakens the presence of the building on the fifth elevation so that the herons would not be intimidated by the four-story structure.
A large triangular atrium connects the four-story volume together, with sunlight filtered through the upper skylights and softened by deep beams, penetrating the interior of the building. Underneath the skylight is the physical model of the wetland park. Standing in the middle of the atrium, one can see three viewfinder windows at the same time, in which three carefully selected nature views are embedded. Being in the building, wrapped in soft natural light, one can feel the flow of seasons, the harmonious coexistence of different species and the magic of nature through the viewfinder window.
Client: CR Land, Shunde People’s Government of Foshan; Chief Architect: Yichen Lu; Project Manager: Shiyu Guo; Project Team: Rui Zhou, Jiaqi Zhang, Zhenwei Zhong, Zida Liu, Jingbing Cheng, Luis Ausin, Lingyun Yang, Feng Qi, Jiarui Xu, Xinning Hua, Sarah Kenney, Zishi Li, Isabella Chong; Architect & Engineer of Record: Shenzhen A+E Design Co.; Structural Consultant: Shenzhen WS Engineering Design Consultant Ltd. / Shenzhen A+E Design Co.; Curtain Wall Consultant: Zheng Xiang Consultant; Landscape Designer: CHANGE; Interior Consultant: Yu Studio; Lighting Consultant: Gradient Lighting Design; Building Structure: box structure, steel structure; Main Building Material: pine moulded fair-faced concrete, glass curtain wall, stainless steel plate; Main Interior Material: woodgrain stone, texture paint, wood veneer; Supplier: Beijing Yihuida Architectural Concrete Engineering Co.,Ltd.. Photography: Tian Fangfang, Arch-Exist, Alexan DENG, Guo Shiyu
