Share on Social Media

Zhongyuan Cultural Touristic City Center, Zone of Utopia + Mathieu Forest Architecte | International Design Awards Winners

Zhongyuan Cultural Touristic City Center

CompanyZone of Utopia + Mathieu Forest Architecte

Lead DesignersQiang ZOU, Mathieu FOREST

Design TeamZENG Teng, WU Di, WANG Zhuang, Arnaud MAZZA, MA Jia, XUE Qijun

Project LocationXinxiang, Henan, China

ClientSUNAC - Henan Rongshou Xinyue Culture and Tourism Real Estate Co. Ltd

CreditsArchExist

Prize(s)Silver in Architecture Categories / Museum, Exhibits, Pavilions and exhibitions, Silver in Architecture Categories / Conceptual

Entry Description

The project is the architectural icon of the new tourism district in Xinxiang, dedicated to winter sports. It is a sculpture out of scale, a pure and monumental volume. Nine ice cubes are superposed and offset from each other. The texture of the facades is composed of a multitude of tangled translucent ice crystals that filter the light. The building thus seems to emit the light it receives like a mass of inhabited ice. By day and night, it is a lighthouse that rises above the surroundings. It is also the continuity of the presence of water and the lake, on which the building seems to float.