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Sun Tower, China
Designed by OPEN Architecture, Sun Tower is an oceanfront public cultural facility featuring outdoor theater, digital exhibition spaces, library, café and bar. OPEN designed the Sun Tower to establish people's connection with nature's spiritual power while bringing much-needed cultural and communal facilities to the new urban district. The architecture frames and transforms invisible energies—air, light, sound, and natural phenomena—into tangible and visceral experiences.
The geometry of Sun Tower is sculpted by the movement of the sun observed from the vantage point of the site. The northern edge of the building's outer shell is parallel to the noon sunlight on the equinoxes. The outdoor theater's axis points towards sunrise on summer solstice, while the entrance tunnel aligns with sunset on the winter solstice. When the outdoor theater is not in use for performances, the stage becomes an area with mist and fountains. The plaza's floor rises outwards from the stage towards the sea, forming a large outdoor amphitheater.
Atop the summit is a unique semi-outdoor "Phenomena Space". Its horizontal opening facing the ocean frames a spectacular view. The oculus opening at the center of the roof allows rainwater to enter and be captured by a small pool. The water in the pool swirls for 9 minutes every hour, from 5 am to 9 pm each day, working as a special time device. A water channel, tangent to the tower and carved into the stone plaza, marks the passing of time on the equinoxes—the shadow of the tower's northern edge moves exactly along the channel, intersecting each elliptical ring on the hour.
The building features shell structure. Two layers of white concrete shells form the main body, connected and braced by slabs and ramps. Facing the ocean, the concave inner shell of the building acts as a sound collector, absorbing and amplifying sounds from the sea. At its base is a semi-outdoor theater which also serves as a place for relaxation and sea observation. A smaller upside-down shell atop the inner shell houses the library and the Phenomena Space. In the middle of the building, between the inner and outer shells is the Digital Exhibition Space.
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