Designed by Wutopia Lab, the Flickering Peak, was completed in the summer of 2024 in Coffee Village, Wanning, Hainan, China, for Chia Tai Hainan Xinglong Coffee Industry Development Co., Ltd.
The Sun River Art Centre, covered with a semi-transparent white Ferrari membrane composed of three perforation rates, was built on the site of a coffee plantation developed by overseas Chinese returning from Indonesia. With its dramatic visual expressions during day and night, it has become a cultural landmark symbolising miracles and hope in the local area.
The story begins with the old routine of saving the day
“The client was dissatisfied with the previous design of the art centre, says Wutopia Lab, Chief Architect, Yu Ting. “After the previous architect ran out of ideas, they approached me, hoping I could create a design that balances substance and visual appeal. The constraints were that the basement had already been constructed, so I could not alter the beam and slab structure types. The new building could not exceed the original structural load or go beyond the original building control lines.”
The coffee town was originally a coffee plantation developed by overseas Chinese who returned during a period of upheaval in Indonesia. They cleared the wilderness and established a coffee factory, creating a legendary story of the Chinese coffee industry.
“This history of persecution, exile, return, reclamation, and the creation of a miracle deeply moved me. I saw it as an encouragement during a struggling phase in my life, an inspiration about miracles.”
The project’s client had said although the coffee town is in Wanning, there is no sea view; it would be better if there were one. If the overseas Chinese could create a miracle, then why not create a sea?
Ting continues, “When I saw the layout of the three buildings in the original plan, the urge to create a sea awakened a meme in my mind: a pool and three mountains. I had used this concept in the Aluminium Mountain project, where I created the building as the third mountain after Luofu Mountain and Taiping Mountain. In the Sun River Coffee Town, I decided to turn the original three buildings directly into three mountains and create an artificial sea in front of the main mountain, paying tribute to the miracles of the overseas Chinese and their hope for a more prosperous and confident future.”
Plot: Mountain Construction
Among the three buildings in the original plan, the east and west auxiliary buildings serve as reception and office areas, while the central main building is the core of the art centre. The east and west auxiliary buildings are the secondary mountains, and the main building is the primary mountain. The sea is created in front of the main mountain.
Walking along the boardwalk on the sea, one enters the main mountain’s lobby. The sea also flows into the lobby like a tide. Inside the lobby, there are two routes to climb the ‘mountain’. One route heads east, first entering the coffee reception area, passing through the open negotiating area, reaching the second-floor overseas Chinese exhibition area, and then arriving at the outdoor seating area. Here, a sky bridge connects to the secondary ‘mountain’, and then an outdoor staircase leads to the third-floor multi-functional hall’s external platform.
The climbing route interweaves indoor and outdoor spaces, turning the original box-shaped main building into an abstract layered ‘mountain’. The lobby is made spacious by removing one column through reinforcing the main beams in specific areas. Once the mountain construction plot is established clearly, all the detailed texts were developed and refined accordingly.
Addition as Subtraction
Due to structural load restrictions, Ting used lightweight membranes instead of the commonly used perforated aluminium panels. The Ferrari membranes with three different perforation rates gradually increase in transparency from bottom to top, forming a translucent visual boundary resembling mountain peaks. Under the scorching sunlight of Hainan, this creates a flickering effect on the roof, which is the origin of the name “flickering.”
During the day, the white Flickering Peak reflects in the white pool, naturally acquiring a sense of sanctity. Ting invited lighting designers to create the other side of sanctity in twilight—materiality, temporary materiality. The translucent Flickering Peak transforms into a mountain of lights in different colours, symbolisng different yet rich desires.
“Flickering Peak is a “super text” combining memory, legend, myth, limitations, uncertainty (the recurrence of the pandemic), setbacks, waiting, ambition, hope, as well as some common architectural knowledge, implicit knowledge, and history—and it is welcomed by the media,” concludes Ting.
Photography: Liu Guowei