Birch Forest

Kris Lin International Design

Short description

The project is located in Xi'an, close to Jinghe Wetland Park in the south. the project has achieved unique ecological resources. This mixed multi-function space is divided into two floors, the first floor is cafe, the second floor as the restaurant and art gallery space.


Concept
The whole design takes " Dear drink at trackless stream" in the poem "a trip to Lushan Mountain" by Mei Yaochen as the design conception, it is a poet of the Northern Song Dynasty. Integrated forest, deer and water those three elements into the design. Under Mei Yaochen's description, the quoted words has a meaning of the deer were leisurely drinking the gurgling water in a stream in such a silent and empty mountain forest.


Restaurant in the Forest
The grid system of indoor ceiling takes the intertwined canopy in the forest as the intention, abstracts the canopy group images in the forest into a tensile architectural structure, which has become the most expressive image characteristic of this case. The whole indoor space is neatly arranged like an artificial forest in the whole forest. We use the mortise and tenon joint technique to connect everything together. Mortise and tenon joint is a common used skill in Chinese traditional architecture, drew inspiration from the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancestors, it creates a visual art effect for space creation as well as completes the interpretation of traditional culture.


Design Challenges
The biggest challenge of this project is the construction of continuous curved surface of ceiling grid. Through the three-dimensional design in the early stage, we selected the aluminum plate for machine cutting in the factory, and finally, went to the construction site for installation and splicing. From the perspective of environmental protection, there is no abandoned building materials and construction wastes at the construction site.