Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Center, China

The Xinjiang Cultural Tourism Center in china sits as an architectural icon of the new tourism district in the city that will be dedicated to winter sports. The project designed by Mathieu Forest Architecte and Zone of Utopia, does not look like a classic building. It is a sculpture out of scale, a pure and monumental volume.

There are nine ice cubes superposed and offset from each other, representing the general theme of the leisure district. The texture of the glass facades is composed of a multitude of tangled translucent ice crystals that filter the light and the vision from the interior. It is a question of hiding - whilst showing - to provoke mystery and the desire to approach. The ice crystals capture the light and give it back. An assembly of superposed cubes, each one of about 17 meters in height, is never perceived in the same way depending on where the visitor is standing.

This massive appearance is made exclusively of printed glass and steel. No supporting structure is visible. The glass panels of the facades are suspended by stainless steel cables and minimal steel connections. The facades capture the light of the sky, which varies according to the time of day, the season, and the weather. Sometimes bright white, under the sun; the building becomes vaporous by cloudy weather, frosted even under certain lights; it reflects the sun and the clouds which become visible on the texture of frost. The building continually changes its appearance with time.

References:

www.archdaily.com

www.luxuryproperties.ir