Wutopia Lab's Hovering Kan-Too is the perfect showroom for any business in the Greater Bay Area!

Persistence of the real estate developer

The showroom, which is essentially a building used to sell houses, is the only thing left that developers can rely on to make their architecture stand out in an increasingly competitive market. In the past few decades, the real estate market has boomed and become highly competitive, making Chinese people's residences more and more homogeneous in terms of design and façade. The showroom is a vitally important aspect of any company as it acts as a window into the company's image for potential customers, and can also greatly improve the customer experience. In the past, the showroom's primary purpose was only to sell buildings, but now it has multiple functions. For example, it can be used to show off the lifestyle that comes with the purchase of a building in the early stages, and later transformed into a community centre or commercial hub for residents.

For a while now, showrooms have been designed to serve as a sales exhibition centre, but they all look quite similar. However, with social media booming and becoming such an important communication tool, developers realized that showrooms need an innovative and unique design to help sell their properties. This change will have a big impact and drive sales.

 

A BDO 

The original site of the new town has been wiped clean due to the Seven Accesses and One Leveling project. In fact, after stripping away architecturally limited variants, the sophisticated and fluid overall designs of the demonstration area are slightly similar to new towns in China. This is Generic City.

I suddenly had a radical idea. I want to make a black BDO reflecting the surroundings: Big Dumb Object. It would symbolize the great power of the unknown and be mysterious. The landmark presents a simple, pure, and distinct image that is unique to the town, rather than a generic cityscape. It is a huge, silent, and cool object that attracts the attention of all who see it. People know at a glance that it is the starting point to visit the new town. The landmark represents the ambition to say "no to Generic City."

 

BDO is an identity

I decided to work with BDO because I wanted to inspire my clients to have a sense of adventure. Most new towns are developed as a result of the overflow of people and functions from the central city. However, I observed that Vanke's ambition for this project was to create a new town with all the functions of a central city. This is a very ambitious and courageous goal, which is something that I believe everyone should aspire to. BDO is about having the courage to achieve great things.

 

Rejected on the grounds of localization 

The project design was sent to the authorities and was rejected because it didn't have enough local cultural characteristics. I don't want to put a fake layer of traditional architecture, or awkwardly combine modern and traditional elements, on a functional building just to meet the demands of society. I also don't want to use common materials of traditional architecture, like rammed earth bricks and wood, on a current building in the name of the locality. I didn't want to use local objects, plants, and animals in an architecture that would be difficult to change or that would require me to keep rewriting it to feature local characteristics. So, I came up with a new proposal that uses symbolism instead. I'm familiar with mountains, so I used that symbolism to give BDO a new look that is easy to express and accepted.

 

Leveraging the mountain, BDO but whisper

I chose the mountain as a symbol for the project because of its emotional and cultural significance. In traditional Chinese culture, the mountain is seen as a symbol of strength and stability, which I thought would be important qualities for the project. Additionally, the mountain can be easily abstracted into different architectural forms, which made it a perfect choice for the project. The absence of information in the original BDO makes people feel uncomfortable. I used a floating translucent white colour in rewriting BDO to give it a whisper-like quality that would make people feel more relaxed.

 

Project name: Hovering Kan-Too – Great Bay Area Center Showroom

Architecture firm: Wutopia Lab - ArchUnits

Location: Ma'an Island, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China

Photography: CreatAR Images

Principal architect: YU Ting; Client Architect: MA Pingcheng, YAO Zhu, LIN Haitao

Design team: GUO Peijian, SHI Jieyu, NI Chenhao

Built area: 1800 m²

Design year: November 2021 – May 2022

Completion year: July 2022