FIRST PRIZE WINNER!
Wen Jian, Liu Yue & Wang Yue
China
Wen Jian
I'm a junior at South China University of Technology in China, now studying architecture.
Liu Yue
I am a junior student studying at the School of Architecture, South China University of Technology.
Wang Yue
My name is WangYue, studying the final year of the 5-year architectural design program in Tianjin University, China. I always believe that I am a person with strong curiosity and desire for exploration, and I care about the experience of personal growth and enjoy the fun brought by professional development. Therefore, I hope to get involved in all fields that I have never tried before——from narrative expression of architecture, to urban renewal and landscape planning, to parametric construction and modular construction; my exploration in each stage is a reflection of sticking to myself and constantly exploring my potential.
Interview with the Winner
What is your design philosophy?
Wen Jian
The tides are one of nature's greatest forces. The Bay of Fundy in Canada has the highest tidal range in the world. Tidal forces cause the space of the beach to cycle over time. It is a place of extraordinary mystery and interest. A building will respond to the tides to create a unique architectural space.
Through a corridor connecting the buildings on the beach with those on the sea, it is a pilgrimage of art. Sometimes the sea gets so full that people can't walk. Sometimes the sea recedes and people pass freely.
It's like the journey of self-discovery --sometimes within reach.
With the passage of time, the size range of architectural space will become larger and smaller over time. As the waves recede, the mainbody of the building will be revealed, and the study space will be maximized. People can feel the water and the space surrounded by the building up close. With the passage of time, the waves rise slowly, over the steps, over the floors, flooded the building, the building space is gradually compressed, gradually smaller, become an island in the sea.
This is a solitary building on the sea. It's a building that has a lot to do with water. Architecture is not determined by man, but by nature. In the cycle of waves, people will get the ultimate sublimation, feel the greatness and power of the sea more deeply, and feel the insignificance of human beings, the inner fickleness will be eliminated, and finally people will be calm.
Liu Yue
The tides are one of nature's greatest forces. The Bay of Fundy in Canada has the highest tidal range in the world. Tidal forces cause the space of the beach to cycle over time. It is a place of extraordinary mystery and interest. A building will respond to the tides to create a unique architectural space.
Through a corridor connecting the buildings on the beach with those on the sea, it is a pilgrimage of art. Sometimes the sea gets so full that people can't walk. Sometimes the sea recedes and people pass freely.
It's like the journey of self-discovery --sometimes within reach.
With the passage of time, the size range of architectural space will become larger and smaller over time. As the waves recede, the mainbody of the building will be revealed, and the study space will be maximized. People can feel the water and the space surrounded by the building up close. With the passage of time, the waves rise slowly, over the steps, over the floors, flooded the building, the building space is gradually compressed, gradually smaller, become an island in the sea.
This is a solitary building on the sea. It's a building that has a lot to do with water. Architecture is not determined by man, but by nature. In the cycle of waves, people will get the ultimate sublimation, feel the greatness and power of the sea more deeply, and feel the insignificance of human beings, the inner fickleness will be eliminated, and finally people will be calm.
Wang Yue
I often take emotion as a starting point or objective reality to think about the concept of architectural design. I think this kind of non-concrete emotion synthesizes different cultures and aesthetics and is difficult to be simply visualized and formalized, but it can guide my formal language to operate logic by guiding people's experience and perception.
The meditator, in solitude with himself, is infinitely close to the pilgrim’s soul; A loner, on the road to truth, establishes a relationship with the sea that belongs only for him.
Can you briefly explain your understanding of the topic and the source of ideas?
Wen Jian
This competition asked us to make a building that is connected with nature. We found that most of the previous buildings used architecture as a medium to interact with nature. But we hope to create a space where the architecture itself interacts with nature. Therefore, we extracted the concept of tide water and created different architectural spaces through the interaction between tide water and buildings.
Liu Yue
When it comes to what brings peace of mind, I naturally think of the night I went to the beach for the first time. As someone who grew up in an inland city, when I first felt the power of the sea, my emotions were filled with awe and peace. At that moment, I felt the eternal connection between nature and human beings. I hope to reproduce this connection in our buildings.
Wang Yue
First of all, I'm interested in healing. It's not about religion or worship, but about meditation in a broader sense. By chance, we saw the amazing scene of the tide rising and falling in the Bay of Fundy in Canada in a single day. We couldn't help asking ourselves whether the intervention of the architectural space with the power of nature could achieve the function of purifying the mind.
So we started to study the relationship between the moon phase and the tide, and the change of the height of the building space when the tide rises and falls. Then came the design concept -- we wanted the size of the building to grow and shrink over time, so that the retreat could feel up close the cycle of the waves and the great power of the sea. Buildings are small, people are small, and the feeling of being "dominated" pervades the meditator's day, and all emotions are determined by nature.
When and how you were first introduced to architecture?
Wen Jian
When I visited the Shanghai World Expo in China in 2008, I felt the charm of architecture.
Liu Yue
When I visited the Forbidden City in Beijing at the age of fifteen, I felt the grand power of architecture. That's when I started to focus on this unique realm that concerns people and the world.
Wang Yue
I got to know architecture for the first time probably in 2008, when I was lucky enough to go to Beijing to learn about Koolhaas's new work -- CCTV tower. At that time, I did not learn any theory of architectural design, nor did I know the whole industry, but I was deeply attracted by the relationship between function and form and structural aesthetics of this building, which opened the door of architecture for me.
In the subsequent growth, I gradually came into contact with architectural theories and different design techniques, but I always believe that concepts should be expressed by complete narrative logic and stories, rather than just fancy containers or aesthetic paranoia.
What does architecture mean to you?
Wen Jian
Architecture to me is a way of shaping space, a way for architects to express their vision.
Liu Yue
Architecture is a tiny window for me to understand this magnificent world, and it is also my way of expressing my vision of the world.
Wang Yue
For me, architecture is a vehicle of experience and sense. I, a future architect, also have deliberated on the meaning of architecture like whether it would cause people’s deep emotional reflection, resonance, and imagination and how we feel the space and generate various imaginations.
At the same time, I hope to establish the emotional connection between people and space on this basis, seek a balance between architecture and social humanistic care, and pay attention to the social value brought by architecture.
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