Tianmen Mountain Restaurant by Liu Chongxiao

A triangulated glass and steel restaurant sits beside a river in a remote forested gorge in southern China.

Designed by Liu Chongxiao, the Tianmen Mountain Restaurant is located at the foot of a ravine leading down from the top of a mountain popular with sightseers.

The restaurant is constructed from triangular panels of alternating timber and glass strips that allows diners a view of the surrounding landscape.

The building is raised off the ground on steel feet to prevent flooding and gives access to the river via an external staircase.

Tianmen Mountain forms a national forest park near the town of Guilin and also contains a historic temple.

Other mountainside projects from the Dezeen archive include a red-striped health centre in the Spanish Sierra de Gardor mountains, a concrete house in the Alps and a steeply pitched house in the Pyrenees.

Photography is by Deng Xixun, Liu Chongxiao, He Rong and Song Ya.

Here’s some more information from the architect:

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Tianmen Mountain Restaurant by Liu Chongxiao

Located on riverside opposite the peach blossom island which is a fantastic sight point in Tianmen Mountain scenic of Guilin, the restaurant was oriented not as a building but a special viewfinder.

The concept is to create unique experience through combine the natural environment with the manmade boundary surface.

Click above for larger image

The 627-square-meters interior space contains repast space, kitchen and toilet. The ground floor is elevated to respond the change of water levels.

On the restaurant’s interior, the steel beams support roof and the beams also accommodate several strip -shaped clerestory windows which bring in natural light and view from outside. A series of different shaped shelves made of local fir looks warm and vernacular. The building looks like a super window for overall view.

Observing the exterior facade of the building from various angles, through the architectural interplay of composition of solid and void, one could sense a mixture of architectural exterior membrane interacting with the nearby bamboo grove, mountain and the materiality of interior space.

Once entering the building, one’s perception is surrounded by the combined power of building materiality, natural lighting and adjacent landscape. This new sense is generated by the juxtaposition of the building merging with the natural surroundings.

While the rain falling in drops, there was a soft, hushed secondary light around the warm interiority which constructed by fir, and the beautiful scene of river rise gleaming…Everything, the water, the air, sound, material presences, textures…calmed people’s heart. The sense of expectation that filled them while they were sitting there.

Architect: Liu Chongxiao
Client: Guilin Zijiang Danxia Tourism Co. LTD
Location: Guilin, China
Planning team: Jiang bo, Mo Keli, Wang Chao
Design team: Liu Chongxiao, Li When, He Rong, Fan Yi, Zhang Yue, Wu Xi, Ren Sijie
Project area: 627 square meters
Project Year: 2011

 http://www.dezeen.com/2011/07/26/tianmen-mountain-restaurant-by-liu-chongxiao/