Cozoo Tourist Centre & Masterplan
Project Type: Building (Tourist Centre—Information Area, Offices, Staff Rooms, Storage Spaces and Restrooms)
Project Year: 2017 (Direct Commission)
Project Team: Kostas Grigoriadis, Li Zhang
Client: Evogma Group & Cozoo
Status: Completed
The building is located in the Huangshan (Yellow) Mountain region in southeast China and forms a gateway and entrance to the local village. It consists of a tourist information space, local craft display and storage area, staff rooms, rest rooms, and an observation deck.
The main design objective was to integrate the building in the surrounding landscape both formally and materially, avoiding an object-in-the-landscape approach. On a formal level, a staircase placed at each end of the building allows continuous longitudinal movement over and across it. As a result, the centre’s roof forms an extension of the public space adjacent to it, and it can be freely accessed to enjoy views of the dramatic mountainous landscape.
The majority of materials, such as the cedar wood used for the facade ribs, were locally sourced to minimise their carbon footprint. Initially intended to be curved, the ribs had to be rationalised as straight polyline segments (one measurement vertically and one across to mark each vertex), so that they could be easily hand cut to size and shape by local craftsmen in the village’s wood workshop. The different segments were glued together, polished, and varnished before being installed on the facade. Formally, the ribs were parametrically designed to have different widths that varied gradually from one end of the building to the other, with the maximum width size being above the centre’s entrance. Additionally, they shade the interior from the hot sun in the summer but allow direct light in the main space for passive heating in the winter.
The project was funded by a national strategic plan that aimed to reverse urban migration. Working with budget constraints, limited local materials, and basic available tools and machinery, the aim was to create a sustainable building acting as a focal point for local inhabitants and visitors of this remote rural region.