Shanghai Huijian invited Wutopia Lab to design a welcoming stage in front of the sales’ center of their project in Huzhou (China). While keeping the interior unchanged, the only request of the client was to make the façade ‘different’ from the generic. The request comes from a resistance to the generic developer fare that dominates the surrounding architectural landscape and the region as a whole.
Giving Yu Ting of Wutopia Lab complete freedom of design, Yu Ting created a new space named White Upland that is described as a ‘combination of architecture, landscape, interior, lighting, art installation and the most personal moments we have in our lives, memories and emotions.’ White Upland is a surreal garden that can be enjoyed by visitors to the sales’ center as well as people around the neighbourhood.
Showcasing prefabrication technologies, Yu Ting chose to work with a very generic material – steel - and has created a semi-transparent screen from continuous steel columns. The effect is achieved using 529 six-meter-high steel columns to mark the boundary of White Upland. Meanwhile, 108 white steel columns in three different sizes form an abstract forest landscape within.
Following the path of visitor circulation, Ting has made a series of different landscapes such as caves, hills, streams, rocks highlands, waterfalls and theatres in the woods. The abstract nature of the landscape is reference from the paintings of Rene Magritte. The total area of White Upland is 3300 m2 and a total of 106 tons of steel was used.
At the entrance of White Upland there is an ink garden surrounded by 16 red maple trees. The 50 tons of inky black mountain stone imply a trace of local history, geography and culture. Moving into the forest landscape, a fountain of 117 nozzles actively engages visitors. Opposite the fountain is a huge covered theater, where bands can perform in the summer. A bonfire in the middle of the forest is a red cone woven by the Roboticplus.ai with 5954 meters of fluorescent carbon fiber.
Within this dream like environment, time slows down. Says Wutopia Lab,‘With our world defined by precise timers, everyone has a sense of urgency and anxiety about the inevitable end. The real significance of time that White Upland has slowed down becomes apparent as we linger in tiny but recurring dreams.’
