Resting Loop with Views
Resting Loop with Views is located on a platform surrounded by Mount Luofu. The site is situated between the highway and a parallel river, originally serving as a buffer zone and a parking area at a sharp turn. The pavilion serves as a rest stop and vista point for cycling enthusiasts, offering services for parking and beverage.
This porous concrete donut, like a UFO, flies low above the stone platform, featuring diversified scenic frames on double levels: one of sunken plaza and the other floating above. Looking to both the river and mountains, the lower level provides seating area for drinking, while the upper level allows for an endless-loop promenade.
The viewing platform, with an outer diameter of 16 meters, takes the form of a donut, cut by vertical planes in several directions, creating oval openings that frame different vistas. These cutouts overlap within each other. Walking on the ring, one can gaze at the sky, observe the water and enjoy the lush green.
Three supporting concrete volumes stand on the sunken plaza, housing a tiny cafe, a public toilet, and a storage, with doors and windows looking through each other. The dark hammered finishing of these volumes echoes with the plaza's stone paving, as-well-as the sculpture seats "social stone" (by Shanghai-based artist SU Chang).
With respect to the wild nature, the exterior surface was casted in-situ with molds of raised-texture bamboo of approximately 7cm in diameter of its section. The interior surface, by contrast, is smooth and seamless, creating an abstract, transcendent experience. The two contrasting finishings contrast at the edge of the oval cuts, where the ruffle shape edge highlights the prominence of bamboo texture.
Contrary to the architect's initial vision of tranquil seclusion in the mountains, the flying donut quickly became a popular destination and a must-visit stop for cyclists, filled with the sounds of people and the hustle of vehicles.
