on a cliff face limestone gallery nestles into shangri-la's haiwei canyon

suspended upon a mountain top one hundred meters above ground, limestone gallery finds its home upon the haiwei canyon in shangri-la, china. with jagged rocks, uneven ground and tricky terrain only a few hurdles tackled by architectural studio, 3andwich design; a satisfying challenge, a determined team and a beautiful landscape conquer as the obvious solutions.

limestone gallery upon the haiwei canyon, captured at dawn

thanks to the unique context of karst’s geology, the ‘haiwei’ canyon has become a paradise for outdoor sport enthusiasts, the purpose of the architects brief. a hub for rock climbers, limestone gallery is located on the palisade of ‘haiwei’ north, from where you can see the whole canyon, the river, the pit and tourists’ center, which has also been designed by 3andwich design in partnership with he wei studio, all in one view.

limestone gallery in dusk

at 800 square meters limestone gallery comprises of two floors, including the exhibition, conference and service area. a rooftop is used for sightseeing and the very bottom floor is designed as an outdoor lounge space. the facade of the gallery is designed with a curved glass wall, creating magnificent panoramic view of the haiwei canyon for its’ users.

the sightseeing platform of limestone gallery

the complicated condition of the site made it essential for the team to intricately measure the site and schematic design to work out the final floor plan. with a wide variation in topography and existence of unstable giant rocks, has resulted in the shape of the building resembling a non-symmetrical crescent. because of this the studio employed the help of local labors to do a large portion of the construction work, such as site levelling and large size material transporting.

view from the foot of the mountain

the glass texture chosen by 3andwich helps communicate limestone gallery’s context, by using transparency to make contrast with the solid mountains. in certain views the reflection of the glass conceals the building behind a mirroring of the landscape, a sophistication accentuated by the lack of bumps or obvious volume changes on the periphery. ‘we believe that no man-made pieces are not comparable with the magic of nature, who ‘designed’ great mountain, river and special landscapes‘, 3andwich comment. ‘thus, the best way of communication is to be modest, using the simplicity of architecture to reflect the complexity of nature’.

a satellite view of limestone gallery in the dawn

a wide variation in topography and existence of unstable giant rocks results in the shape of the building resembling a non-symmetrical crescent

a glass facade faces the vast expanse of the mountain

at 800 square meters limestone gallery comprises of two floors, including the exhibition, conference and service area

the lounge area located within limestone gallery frames scenic views

limestone gallery captured at dawn upon the vast expanse of the area

explorers trek across the bridge on the haiwai canyon

via ferrata to limestone gallery

project name: limestone gallery
location: dushan town, anlong county, southwest guizhou autonomous prefecture, guizhou province
client: anlong heyun tourism and cultural development co.,ltd design
company: 3andwich design / he wei studio
principal architect: he wei
design team: chen long, mi jian, sun qi, zhao zhuoran, song ke, wu qiancheng, wu zhou, li wan
consultant: nie jian, wang bin
document consultant: lv xiaoyan
building area: 1350 sqm
period of design: may 2016 – sept 2016
period of construction: aug 2016 – jul 2017
resident engineer: jin leizhu, he xiugen
cooperation company: mountain journey (china) co., ltd.
interior construction drawing: hongshang design
interior furnishing: tymj home furnishing
photographer: jin weiqi, li xiang, wang yong, li tengye