The ambience along the path is circumferential and religious to some extent, as a way to worship nature. As the site is triangulated, the project responses to the site, by stacking layers of curve walls, in a crisscrossing fashion to create layers of courtyards. Spatial demarcations are horizontal walls on the ground or suspended in the air. Seeking a dialogue with the courtyard house in Beijing, as well as the Great Wall scenery nearby, the material used for the project is carefully proportioned masonry wall, and it is used throughout landscape, architecture and interior design.

A uniform tone brings historic gravitas to the project. The project encompasses a 1500sm space for community and a 400sm skating rink. The interior space depicts nature digitally. The signature image of “autumn foliage in Western Hills” is created by a field of glittering wooden laminated aluminum panels. The ceiling panels array from warm yellow to white, suggesting the transition from entrance to skating ring. An “inverted Western Hills” is created by various curving array of ceiling panels. Besides, first nature and second nature are juxtaposed and joined simultaneously.

Recycle concrete blocks are cut into thin pieces and put together to form curving nature surfaces. The hills and waterfalls, created by thin masonry and lighting, show the solidification and abstraction of nature. Credits: - MEP - Gong Cheng - Beijing Saturni Engineering Consultant Co., Ltd. - Structure - Yue Yu - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Design Principal - Xiaojun Bu - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Lianhua Liu - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Jue Wang - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Design Principal - YingFan Zhang - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Ping Jiang - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Jiang Wu - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Wei Huang - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Lairong Zheng - Atelier Alter Architects - Photography - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Weicong Lin - Beijing Saturni Engineering Consultant Co., Ltd. - Structure - Qing Zuo - Beijing Saturni Engineering Consultant Co., Ltd. - Structure - Duomin Wang - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Zhenwei Li - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Leilei Ma - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Bo Huang - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Chunbiao Cao - Highlite Images - Photography - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Ran Yan - Beijing Saturni Engineering Consultant Co., Ltd. - Structure - Bin Ma - Atelier Alter Architects PLLC - Architecture Design Team - Chuan Qin