ice cubes cultural tourist center

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Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Center / Zone of Utopia + Mathieu Forest Architecte

• Curated by Paula Pintos
• Architects: Mathieu Forest Architecte , Zone of Utopia
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2021
• Photographs Photographs: ArchExist
• Lead Architects: Qiang ZOU, Mathieu FOREST
• Structure : Arup Group Limited
• Landscape : Hassell Shanghai
• Lighting : PROL
• Interior design : WUZ DESIGN
• Project Leader:  ZENG Teng
• Curtain Wall:  EDUTH
• City:  Xinxiang
• Country:  China
• Did you collaborate on this project?

Text description provided by the architects. The Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Center is the architectural icon of the new tourism district, which will be dedicated to winter sports, including the presence of the future indoor ski slope. The ambition of the project is to create a strong urban indicator that unites the whole district. The project does not look like a classic building. It is a sculpture out of scale, a pure and monumental volume.

Simplicity / Complexity.  There are nine ice cubes superposed and offset from each other, representing the general theme of the leisure district. This simple appearance becomes subtle and complex as one approaches - 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. The building thus seems to emit the light it receives like a mass of inhabited ice.

Fragility / Solidity. 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.

Instant / Eternity. 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.

Kinetic.  It is a sculpture conceived according to each angle of discovery. 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. From the commercial street to the west, the upper cube shifts to the side, cantilevering 34m above the ground to mark the end of the perspective. From the south, the composition is more balanced, to face the calmness of the lake. From the north, which is the main pedestrian access, the cubes come closer together to form a 34-meter vertical gap that invites the visitor to enter inside. The upper cube, more transparent, is a transparent crystal and houses a place of contemplation and relaxation, suspended in the sky.

A Lighthouse. By day and by night, it is a lighthouse that rises above the surrounding buildings. Its light attracts visitors and creates a landmark for the entire neighborhood. At night, the facades are fully illuminated and light up the surroundings. The building radiates a uniform glow that irresistibly catches the eye and prevents a direct view of the interior life. At the top, the Sky Lounge allows observing the landscape in 360 degrees.

Presence of Water.  It is also the continuity of the presence of water and the lake, on which the building seems to float. A metaphoric work of ice cubes transformed into a liquid state creates a pleasant and serene environment.

Project gallery

Project location

Address: xinxiang, henan, china.

Materials and Tags

• Sustainability

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The Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Centre is a sculptural mass of frosted cubes

by Anmol Ahuja Published on : Dec 21, 2021

Simplicity and complexity, fragility and solidity, eternity and sheer instance: all contrasting, diverging properties, and yet, meaningfully employed by the architects in the definition of the eponymously named Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Centre. Intended as an architectural icon in the newly formed tourism district for winter sports in Xinxiang, China , the centre serves to be an urban indicator, a focal point for the whole district that unites, by the strong virtue of standing out from its mostly multi storey residential context. How it achieves this is where another pair of contradictions fit. A marauding composition of nine cubes housing myriad functions, the structure is volumetrically united within the collection of unmelting ice blocks stacked over each other.

The composition, furthermore, stands activated and catalysed, almost as in a state of constant dynamism, by the cubes being axially offset from each other; not only is their stacking eccentric, the superimposed cubes are also rotated on individual axes, adding a spatial ‘excitement’ to the vertically meandering functions housed within. Additionally, there is much at play behind the seemingly random juxtaposition. The toying with what are essentially simple geometric properties is what lends the building a singularly sculptural appearance, oscillating between the precision of art, and the playfulness of what a child would do when handed these blocks. However, a literal additional layer of building, an ancillary skin, if you may, qualifies the structure for an ice sculpture.

The building employs a double facade principle, visible in some of Jean Nouvel’s most famous works and employed readily in facade design by the French architect , even if in a differentiated materiality. Interestingly, and incidentally, both the principal designers of the collaborating architectural studios, Mathieu Forest and Qiang Zou, have worked with Nouvel and his atelier for many years, before joining hands to work on this building. The principle, seen in the context of the Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Centre, comprises an assembly of two sheaths of glass, held in place one behind the other. While the internal layer subsumes complete transparency, the external layer, responsible for much of the frosting effect, is translucent, bearing a texture of multiple entangled ice crystals. Apart from the obvious lending of a cubist ice castle aesthetic, the dual skin evokes a dichotomy between visibility and concealment, between light and shade, provoking “a mystery and the desire to approach”, according to the architects. “The ice crystals capture the light and give it back. The building thus seems to emit the light it receives, like a mass of inhabited ice,” the designers state, in response to the contrast they seem to pivot the building’s more spiritual side on.

The light and how it filters through is also manifested in the visual weight of the building itself. Apart from the stacking and cantilevering rendering almost exclusively in glass and steel, a ‘lightness’ in mass for the structure, no supporting structure is visible either. The glass panels of the facades are suspended by stainless steel cables and minimal steel connections, giving the visual impression of a lace when viewed from up close. How this manifests in the interior spaces is a continually evolving spatial landscape, illuminated by sunlight as allowed by the double facade: bright white and reflective on sunny days, vaporous on cloudy ones, and frosted on moderately sunny days.

As dramatic as this composition of cubes is, each about 17 meters in height, it is also carefully doctored to cater to a differential viewing experience, depending on which avenue it is viewed from. From the commercial street to the west, the upper cube shifts to the side, cantilevering 34 meters above the ground to mark the end of the perspective. From the south, the composition is more balanced, to face the calmness of the lake. The entrance to the building is marked by the cubes coming closer together to leave a 34 meter vertical gap, placed along the northern side which is the main pedestrian access.

Furthermore, the cube at the top is conceived as a transparent crystal, housing a space for contemplation and a sky lounge, almost as if suspended in the sky. The structure is abutted against an expansive water body, lending a tranquil environment, along with serving the metaphor of the ice blocks assimilating in the water body. Rising above its context akin to a lighthouse when illuminated in warm light at dusk; a supple and brave parallel by the architects, the Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Centre suitably serves its conception as a landmark and a delicate monument to both form and function.

Project Details

Name: Pingyuan New Area Cultural Touristic City Exhibition centre Client: Henan Rongshou Xinchuang Culture and Tourism Real Estate Co. Ltd. Program: : Cultural tourist centre Superstructure surface area : 19.740 m² GFA Site surface area : 28.200 m2 Architects: Zone of Utopia, Mathieu Forest Architecte Designers: Qiang ZOU, Mathieu FOREST Design team: ZENG Teng, DI Wu, WANG Zhuang, Arnaud MAZZA, MA Jia, XUE Qixun Structure: Arup Group Limited Curtain wall / facades: EDUTH Landscape design: Hassell Shanghai Landscape design construction: QIDI Shanghai Lighting: PROL Interior design: WU:Z DESIGN

• Chinese Architecture
• Cultural Building
• Cultural Centre
• Facade Design
• French Architect
• Glass Facade

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About Author

Anmol Ahuja

As a writer, Anmol channels his interests into lucid pieces on sensitive, remarkable architecture and global design. He is an architect by education with over three years of multidisciplinary work experience in the fields of core and allied architecture, design and content curation, coupled with an avid love for the cinematic medium and graphic novel.

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Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Center, lighting by PROL

The Fantasy adventure of Magic and The Frozen

Xinxiang , known as Muye in ancient times, is one of the important cities in the Central Plains, facing Zhengzhou across the river. Besides, the 11th Cultural Tourism City built by Sunac Cultural Tourism Group in China is located here.The huge-scale building sets like ice cubes on the water and consists of three large clusters of 9 small cubes.

All of the lights here are designed by PROL, who further extends the design concept of exploring the hidden value of light to work out the urban artistic landmarks in the Central Plains, namely the winter wonders.

The inspiration of the Frozen

With the extreme use of light and shadow, PROL actively thinks about the arrangement and combination of various lights, so that the designer breaks through the inherent form of isolated ice box during the day, and magically turns the "big ice block" at night into a romantic fairy tale, showing the diverse styles and infinite possibilities of architecture.

The lighting design is based on the intuitive feelings of the building and its relationship with the building, through the reconstruction of the two concepts of ice and snow, so as to achieve the effect of highlighting the shape of large ice cubes with the lighting.

The lighting is set to 3-5 times the overall brightness of the surroundings, gradually raising and converging from bottom to top. Combined with the interesting association of Frozen , PROL breaks through the traditional cold white color of ice and snow, allowing to radiate more colorful lights to convey the romance, exquisiteness and joy of the ice and snow world.

The alienation and closeness of urban architecture

The façade of the building adopts digital printing glass, which distributes color on white ice cubes during the day, making the building look cool and stylish. Among the huge cubes, the translucent ice crystal glass façade has a hidden visual effect that effectively filters light and interior structure.

At night, the light turns the daytime cold ice cubes into a fantasy wonder fairy tales. The visual atmosphere created by the light brings endless sense of surprise and desire to explore.

Taking into account the placement of the lighting fixtures and the maintenance path of the building's curtain wall, the designer tried his best to show all the details the lighting could provide, and finally used the form of internal lighting to highlight the frosted glaze on the digital printed glass. In addition, the designer restored the overall texture and transparency of each Ice Cube by using layer-by-layer lighting, showing the coordination and balance between appearance and formlessness, interior and exterior.

Given the effect of light transmission at night on the facade, the designer deconstructed various patterns of frost condensation and external visual focal points from different angles. Experienced designer has designed a large ice cube with uniform and smooth lighting effects that are balanced inside and outside after repeated experiments.

The designer cleverly applied specific lighting colors to match the theme of Frozen. Not only did he choose the blue and white tones that are inherent to the impression of ice and snow, but also captured the blue and purple tones reflected from the ice flowers.

Dreamy and sweet colors flow slowly on the cubes, reflecting each other, which to some extent highlights the theme of the founding of happy cultural tourism city.

During the lighting adjustment, are many children playing in the square, who are attracted by the lights and stop to ask curiously if this is Princess Aisha's castle. The designer suddenly discovered that the hidden value of light not only has intuitive visual beauty, but also brings people an initial sense of touch and joy that has no boundaries or ages.

Let go of the rational design language, the glorious big ice block in children's eyes is more like the ice castle raised from the ground by Princess Aisha's magical wave. It is also the pursuit and thinking of adults for nature, joy, and fairy tales?

The clouds are scattered, the beautiful landscape. The ice is melting, with the water is sparkling. The large ice block with great tension has become a new artistic landmark of the city, standing quietly on the north bank of the Yellow River, bringing the beauty of freezing in the extreme cold climate to the Central Plains. The PROL with the magic of light and shadow, inspires the vitality and dream of the big ice building style which is different from the daytime, and awakens the romance and touch of the fairy tale inside each one of us.

About PRO.L

As the first domestic company that proposes the idea of "exploring the hidden value of light", PRO.L is a leading organization in the new generation lighting design in China.

Co-founded by Li Hui and Fu Li in 2010, PRO LIGHTING offers professional and creative lighting design service. With the concept of "exploring the hidden value of light", it has won many international awards and become the leading agency in the new generation lighting design in China. In 2019, it was reputed by the media as "like a quiet, thoughtful, naturally purified experience, characterized with highly refined oriental aesthetics and magical commercial value".

PRO.L provides all-embracing international lighting design service, which covers the public and cultural facilities, offices, hotels, residences, complex, etc. Since its establishment, the company has built good relationships with hotel brands such as InterContinental, Ahn Luh, Hilton, Marriott, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Narada Hotels, Langham Hotel Group, Landison Hotels and Resorts, and Marriott International. It has also kept close cooperation with famous developers such as Poly Group, Sunac China, China Resources Land, Vanke Group, China Overseas Property Group and China Everbright Group. What’s more, PRO.L has participated in projects of many well-known domestic and foreign design companies, in which it has got a lot of attention and professional recognition.

PRO.L believes that light is a material of space. Project type should not be regarded as the service criterion, and project scale should not be the determining factor of cost. What PRO.L focuses is the solution to new problems in development and growth in design, as well as the exploration on the infinite and implicit value under lighting design.

By Naser Nader Ibrahim

• Cultural Architecture
• Chinese Architect
• Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Center
• Tourism Center
• Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Center
• Tourist Center
• Zone of Utopia
• Mathieu Forest Architecte
• Sunac China
• Prol Lighting
• TOPIA Commercial Photography

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ICE CUBES: Pingyuan New Area Cultural Touristic City Exhibition Center by Zone of Utopia + Mathieu Forest Architecte

new cultural tourism center in china designed as shapeshifting, frozen ice cubes

The xinxiang cultural tourism center in china plays on scale and translucency.

with its out-of-scale volume, the xinxiang 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. led by architects qiang zou and mathieu forest, the project hopes to create a solid urban indicator that unites the whole district and attracts local and regional visitors. 

the unusual design merges nine architectural blocks shaped as ‘ice cubes’ that superpose and are offset from one another – representing the general theme of the leisure district. this straightforward appearance becomes more subtle and complex as one approaches the building thanks to glass façades featuring many tangled and translucent ice crystals that filter the light and view from the interior. ‘ it is a question of hiding – while showing – to provoke mystery and the desire to approach. the ice crystals capture the light and give it back. the building thus seems to emit the light it receives like a mass of inhabited ice,’  state the architects.

leveraging perspective to create a shape-shifting volume

elaborating on that visual play, zou and forest shaped the sculptural center in such a way as to be perceived differently according to each angle of discovery. from the commercial street to the west, the upper cube shifts to the side, cantilevering 34m above the ground to mark the end of the perspective. from the south, the composition is more balanced to match the calm ambiance of the lake. from the north, the primary pedestrian access, the cubes come closer together to form a 34m vertical gap that invites visitors to enter the center. the upper cube, more transparent in nature and suspended in the sky, houses a place of contemplation and relaxation. 

the team successfully realized that otherwordly quality thanks to a unique choice of material: printed glass panels make up the façades, while stainless steel cables and connections bind the panels together – creating a minimal design that evokes both fragility and solidity.  you can view zou’s works  here  and forest’s  here . 

a lighthouse that rises above surrounding buildings

beside highlighting a play of fragility and solidity, the glass panels also convert the center into an architecture of light. the translucent façades effectively capture natural lighting in all its varieties – according to the time of day, the seasons, and weather. sometimes bright white under the sun, foggy under cloudy weather, or even frosted under certain lights, the building appears to change its appearance with time continually. 

on the other hand, by collaborating with lighting firm PROL, the xinxiang cultural tourism center turns into a lighthouse that seemingly rises above surrounding buildings. ‘ at night, the façades are fully illuminated and light up the surroundings. the building radiates a uniform glow that irresistibly catches the eye and prevents a direct view of the interiors ,’ shares the team.

project info:

name:  ice cubes / xinxiang cultural tourism center location:  xinxiang, china completion year: 2021 client:  henan rongshou xinchuang culture and tourism real estate co. ltd. gross floor area (GFA): 10,000sqm architecture:   zone of utopia , mathieu forest architecte lead architects: qiang zou, mathieu forest structure: arup group limited landscape architecture: hassell shanghai  interior design: WUZ DESIGN curtain wall: EDUTH lighting: PROL photography: arch-exist

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers  here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom

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Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Center

• Typologies Cultural center  Culture / Leisure 
• Material Glass 
• City Xinxiang 
• Country China 
• Photographer TOPIA Commercial Photography 
• Brand PROL 

Resembling ice cubes stacked on top of one another, this sculptural building clad in frosted glass is the work of the French firms Mathieu Forest Architecte and Zone Of Utopia. It features a restaurant, a café, stores, reading rooms, and spaces intended for children. Set at different angles to form terraces and cantilevers, the glazed blocks have a pattern imprinted on them to make them look like ice, and depending on changing light conditions, certain areas indoors are either visible from outside, or hidden. The company PROL  designed the lighting.

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• Zone of Utopia + Mathieu Forest Architecte designs Ice Cubes Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Centre

Starring: Zone of Utopia , Mathieu Forest Architecte ,

Photographer: ArchExist ,

Section: Cultural Center ,

The new Xinxiang tourist and cultural centre designed by the Zone of Utopia and Mathieu Forest Architecte studios is a new landmark for the city in China. The iconic building has been conceived as an out-of-scale sculpture that resembles a huge mountain of ice cubes, a direct and evocative reminder of the winter sports to which the entire tourist district will be dedicated and that will also include a indoor ski slope.

Other photos... Other photos...

The Zone of Utopia and Mathieu Forest Architecte studios have designed the new tourist and cultural centre in Xinxiang, China. Architects Qiang Zou and Mathieu Forest , founders of the two studios based in Paris, have worked together for some time at the Atelier Jean Nouvel and, since 2018, have decided to continue in their professional partnership, sharing a cultural and poetic approach to architecture. The new Xinxiang district will be dedicated to winter sports and its exceptional facilities – including an indoor ski slope – are expected to attract many visitors and tourists, local as well as from neighbouring regions. It was therefore necessary that the building designed by Zone of Utopia and Mathieu Forest Architecte would become an important reference point for the neighbourhood and a new landmark for the city. The architects’ solution was to create an iconic building, an out-of-scale sculpture where it is not possible to discern the number of floors. The architecture, which immediately brings to mind the winter sports to which the entire district will be dedicated, is characterised by a pure form made up of nine " ice cubes ". The ice cubes stand about 17 metres tall each and have been assembled overlapped and staggered. There are no visible load-bearing structures. The façades of the cubes are made of glass panels supported by stainless steel cables and connected by minimal elements. The intent is to offer a light and diaphanous image of the building, letting everything appear like glazed lace, through which the light can be observed. Indeed, when approaching the building, the glass façades reveal a texture made up of a multitude of tangled translucent "ice crystals" . The panels thus become filters for the light and ensure privacy inside the building. In addition, seen as a whole, and from the outside, the building looks like an illuminated and inhabited block of ice. The architects, however, were not looking to create a static sculpture. On the contrary, the new Xinxiang cultural centre reflects the surrounding context and changes continuously according to the weather conditions, the seasons and the time of day. An effect further enhanced by the presence of water and the nearby lake, on which the architecture seems to float. Moreover, depending on the direction and the path taken to approach the building, the volume reveals itself to visitors in a different way: from one side it appears as a balanced composition of volumes, from another it takes on a more dramatic character thanks to the pronounced overhangs of the stacked cubes. On the north side, instead, the cubes come closer together to create the vertical gap that forms the entrance, inviting visitors to step inside. At the top of the complex we find the volume of the Sky Lounge, where the public can stop and admire the surrounding landscape, taking in the 360-degree panoramic views. At night, in the dark, the architecture transforms into a lighthouse and, with its fully illuminated façades designed to attract visitors, it becomes a landmark for the entire neighbourhood.

(Agnese Bifulco) Images courtesy of Zone of Utopia + Mathieu Forest Architecte Official project name: PINGYUAN NEW AREA CULTURAL TOURISTIC CITY EXHIBITION CENTRE Client: Henan Rongshou Xinchuang Culture and Tourism Real Estate Co. Ltd. Program: Cultural tourist center Superstructure surface area: 19,740 m² GFA Site surface area: 28,200 m2 Assignments: Master plan, Architecture design, Landscape design cooperation Date: 2019 – 2021 (time for conception 6 months) Status: Completed in 2021 Architects: Zone of Utopia+Mathieu Forest Architecte Designers: Qiang ZOU, Mathieu FOREST Design team: ZENG Teng, DI Wu, WANG Zhuang, Arnaud MAZZA, MA Jia, XUE Qixun Collaborating companies: Local Design Architect : Henan Urban Planning Institute & Corporation Structure: Arup Group Limited Curtain wall / facades: EDUTH Landscape design: Hassell Shanghai Landscape design construction: QIDI Shanghai Lighting: PROL Interior design: WU:Z DESIGN Photographer: ArchExist

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Ice cubes make up Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Center

September 07, 2022

The stunning structure was designed by two French studios: Mathieu Forest Architects and Zone Of Utopia . Image courtesy of: Dezeen

The Xinxiang Cultural Tourism Center opened earlier this year; is has quickly become an architectural icon. Located in Xinxiang; the building is at the center of the city’s new tourism district that is dedicated to winter sports. The hope is that the new cultural center will create (courtesy of Design Boom), “a solid urban indicator that unites the whole district and attracts local and regional visitors.”

Each block’s dimensions are 55-square-feet. Image courtesy of: Interior Design

The 304,000-square-foot complex drew inspiration from “Frozen,” the animated feature film that was especially beloved in China. The cultural center is comprised of a stack of nine frosted glass cubes that are offset from one another. Each cube is stacked at a different angle; this creates a number of compositions depending on the direction from where someone approaches. The result was successful in thanks to the materials that were selected to construct the building.

Entryway into the foyer. Image courtesy of: Dezeen

Beside the varying placements, some cubes cantilever above the plaza while other cubes are positioned to create small caps to walk between. In the center cluster of cubes, a double-height ground floor opens up to a large foyer that leads to a reading room. Interestingly, the reading room is a path toward a paved water terrace.

The foyer melds the cubes into a single space at the ground floor, while the upper levels intersect and project out into the foyer from above. This design was instrumental in creating balcony spaces that are supported by substantially-sized white columns.

At nighttime, the ice cubes turn into a fantasy wonderland. The lighting is set to 3-5 times the overall brightness of the surroundings. Image courtesy of: Architecture List

The glass panels are suspended by stainless-steel cables; they are digitally-printed with a special light-diffusing tangle of ice crystals. This style of printing directly onto the cubes’ surfaces give them a frosted look. During daylight hours, the glass panels’ appearances vary depending on the light conditions. As the light changes, different parts of the interior are revealed… and concealed!

At night however, illumination from inside creates a glowing effect. As the studios explained (courtesy of Dezeen), “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 complex at dusk… Image courtesy of: Dezeen

Some have likened the complex’s cubes to a lighthouse where each section is connected to the other by minimal elements. The most impressive is when approaching the building, (courtesy of Floor Nature), “the glass facades reveal a texture that is made up of a multitude of tangled translucent ice crystals.”

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Zone of Utopia + Mathieu Forest Architecte design Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Center

9 frosted glass “ice cubes” atop a pool of water house the new cultural centre in xinxiang.

February 6, 2023, 2:43 pm Comments Off on Zone of Utopia + Mathieu Forest Architecte design Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Center

Zone of Utopia Architecture and Mathieu Forest Architecte designed the Ice Cubes Cultural Tourist Center in Xinxiang, China.

The center serves as the district’s architectural highlight and will be home to a future indoor ski slope as well as other winter sports facilities. The project’s goal is to develop a potent urban indicator that unites the entire district. The construction does not resemble a traditional structure. It is a gigantic, clean sculpture that is out of proportion.

Nine ice cubes are superimposed and offset from one another to depict the leisure district’s overall motif. As one approaches, its straightforward appearance becomes nuanced and intricate. Numerous tangled translucent ice crystals that filter light and vision from the inside make up the texture of the glass façade. It is important to conceal things while yet being visible in order to arouse curiosity and the want to approach. The light is captured and returned by the ice crystals. The structure appears to emit the light it receives in the manner of an inhabited mass of ice.

Steel and printed glass are the only materials used to create this massive appearance. No evident support is present. The façade’ glass panels are held in place by stainless steel cables and basic steel connections.

The sky’s light, which varies depending on the time of day, the season, and the weather, is captured by the façade. The building is occasionally dazzling white in direct sunlight; in foggy conditions, it becomes vaporous and frosted even in certain lighting, reflecting the sun and the clouds that are now apparent on the texture of the frost. As time goes on, the building’s appearance is always changing.

It is a sculpture that was created using all possible discovery angles. Depending on where the visitor is standing, a group of around 17-meter-high superposed cubes is never seen in the same way. The upper cube swings to the side and cantilevers 34 meters above the ground from the commercial street to the west, signaling the end of the perspective. To confront the tranquility of the lake, the composition is more balanced when viewed from the south. The cubes draw closer together to generate a 34-meter vertical gap that urges the visitor to arrive from the north, which is the major pedestrian access. The more clear upper cube, which is made of transparent crystal, contains a space for reflection and relaxation.

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The “lighthouse”  towers over the neighboring structures both during the day and at night. Visitors are drawn to it, and its light establishes a landmark for the entire neighborhood. The facades are completely lit up at night, illuminating the surrounds. The structure emits a consistent glow that draws attention and blocks a direct view of the inner life. The Sky Lounge at the summit allows visitors to get a 360-degree view of the surroundings.

The presence of water and the lake, which leaves the impression that the building is floating. A nice and tranquil atmosphere is produced by a metaphorical sculpture of ice cubes that have been turned into liquid.

Project information Architects: Mathieu Forest Architecte, Zone of Utopia – www.mathieuforest.fr , www.z-o-u.com Year: 2021 Images: ArchExist Lead Architects: Qiang ZOU, Mathieu FOREST Structure: Arup Group Limited Landscape: Hassell Shanghai Lighting: PROL Interior Design: WUZ DESIGN Project Leader: ZENG Teng Curtain Wall: EDUTH City: Xinxiang Country: China

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