The architect Aurelien Chen designed a pavilion that tries to represent and symbolize the typical Chinese landscape "Sanshui", which refers to a style of traditional painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints.

The project is in the coastal city of Rizhao, located on the slope of the Zhulong Shan, the "Dragon Mountain" that invites the user to get closer and to experiment.

The pavilion has 200 stainless steel posts placed in the same way as a forest that is integrated and joined to form a single element.
The intervention executed by Aurelien Chen mixes the typical elements of the Chinese landscape: the mountains, the forest, the clouds, and the water, allowing to generate a connection between the user and the pavilion itself.

Through a play of light, the project is interesting to see even at night, generating projections and shadows that convey the inevitable passage of time.
 

Description of project by Aurelien Chen

Above all else, this installation is a landmark placed by the roadside to draw the attention to the entrance of the Dragon Mountain Natural site (Zhulong Shan), a typical example of  « Shanshui » traditional Chinese landscape composed by mountains, forest, clouds and water.

There are three different sequences of approach and just as many levels of perception in this installation.

While approaching the site from the street, a vibrant mountain composed by 200 inox poles subtly appears in the distance.

With speed, the poles become a single surface and the effects created by the different materials composing the poles reveal the shape of a new mountain.

While the visitor moves closer, he discovers a miniature landscape in which he can move and stroll. The poles become a forest; a black marble river invites the visitor to walk towards the real mountain standing out against the horizon. The canopies placed above the visitor’s head to represent clouds, turn out to be mirrors. In this peaceful setting, urban life goes on reflecting itself on the mirror canopies and on the surface of the poles. 

The perforations on the mirror panels create an interplay of light and shadow marking the passing of time.

At night, thousands of stars appear on the poles, perforated randomly, and give shape to a mountain vibrant with light.

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Architects
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Design team
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Aurelien Chen.
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Collaborators
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Zhijian Workshop, Zhou Zhipeng (parametric design), CSCEC (overall planning).
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Builder
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CESC.
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Client
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Rizhao FaDa JiTuan.
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Area
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350 sqm.
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Dates
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2019.
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Location
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Rizhao Zhulong Shan, Shandong, China.
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Photography
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Aurelien Chen is a French architect,  architecture photographer and construction engineer, with 15 years of experience in China. He is also a partner at Zhijian Workshop, a multidisciplinary design studio based in China, France, and Germany.

Aurelien Chen was born in France in 1979. In 2002, he graduated in Construction Engineering specializing in architecture at the "Ecole Speciale des Travaux Publicsen", one of the most representative schools in the European country. After starting to study Architecture, in 2004 he will study a semester at the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Two years later, he will travel again to Beijing where he spent ten months of research in 2006 to finally graduate in Architecture at the School of La Villete in Paris in 2007.

Aurelien Chen has a great career behind him. Being a collaborator of the aforementioned design studio Zhijian Workshop, in 2005 he will work with the Dacbert-Cochet-Chapellier Architects Associates in Paris. From 2007 to 2017 he has also been collaborating with Cui Kai Architecture Studio, an architecture and research studio located in Beijing. For two years, since 2017, he has served as chief architect at CESC China.
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Published on: October 9, 2020
Cite: "The poetry of the traditional Chinese landscape. Dragon Mountain Pavilion by Aurelien Chen" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/poetry-traditional-chinese-landscape-dragon-mountain-pavilion-aurelien-chen> ISSN 1139-6415
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