In nature – Through frequent visits over the past two years, Xiangshan Dongchen Township has become the coastal village I know best. Driving from Ningbo through the huge Xiangshan Port, along the extensive eastern coastline and through the Danmen Tunnel, we soon reach our destination – a little-known prairie on the East China Sea, hidden in the unique landscape where mountains meet the sea. Twenty years ago, Xiangshan County undertook a land reclamation project and built a dam between Dawanshan and Xiyangshan in the north and south. The reclaimed mudflat pasture covers nearly 4,000 hectares. Over the years, this rare prairie on the East China Sea has maintained its natural, pristine pastureland and serves as a habitat for cattle and seabirds.
The station is located on the south side of the prairie, next to the road leading to Wangjialan Village, with the remains of Dawanshan in the background. Once completed, the station will serve as a transportation hub connecting the southern coastal highway to the Damuyang coastal area, and will be an important gateway for exploring this mysterious coastal prairie landscape.
Landscape and view – Faced with a vast wilderness, “viewing” is not a challenge. The central design consideration is how the landscape, filtered through the “architectural container,” presents itself as a unique experience – appearing first as a screen, then as a window, followed by a corridor and finally a high platform.
Driving east along Wangjialan Village Road, the East China Sea prairie is always in full view and seems quite unassuming. We envision planting a row of ginkgo trees in the middle of the station grounds, like a wall in nature. It will block the oppressive presence of the southern mountain and obstruct our view of the prairie from the road. It acts as a privacy screen that we put up and creates a “tension” when looking at it. The station is divided into two areas according to function, with reception, retail and public toilets near the road and a bright dining area hidden behind the trees. The two areas are at different heights – one at the level of the road and the other above the prairie. The outdoor walkway connecting the two areas is framed by walls and a roof and resembles a narrow window that precisely frames a corner of the prairie landscape, as if stepping into a painting. As you turn to the corridor, the view opens up and the vast prairie unfolds before you. If you follow the spiral staircase at the end, you climb onto the platform and look up at the clouds. “Narrow at first, hardly possible to pass through, but after a few steps it suddenly opens up.” The landscape remains unchanged, but the viewing experience becomes completely new.
The main building is a steel structure with a series of steel columns and walls. The curtain walls and interior floors are clearly separated from each other and directly support the corrugated concrete slabs of the roof. The steel structure forms a clear skeleton into which other elements are incorporated, but which retain their independence. The continuous concrete slabs inside resemble a reflector, with the lights installed on the curtain wall skeleton projecting upwards and providing uniform interior lighting through diffuse reflection.
During construction, we stayed on site and repeatedly adjusted the color of the terrazzo, as if we were rendering a canvas.
After several trials, we decided on a beige exposed concrete and a light blue terrazzo as the flooring for the two areas. The exposed concrete is rough and primitive, like an extension of the rocky landscape, while the terrazzo is calm and smooth, shimmering in the sunlight and reminiscent of distant Damuyang. We chose Siberian larch as the main wall material, with a mottled texture and soft touch to offset the traces of new construction. We hope that the station will not look too new when completed, and not too old over time.
A little reflection – When these photos were taken, the station had just been completed and was about to be put into service. The traces of life will leave their mark on it. After more than thirty trips in two years, it has long since become more than just a “project to be done well”. Having survived the trials of sun, rain and time, we hope that it can offer lasting quality and provide people with a generous and dignified public life.
