The Call Of The Sea Guides This Moody Beachfront Structure

2024 Best of Year Winner for Social Impact

The call of the sea guided the renovation of Reef, a 3,000-square-foot beachfront structure whose main purpose is to support the needs of visitors to a reef in Guantouling, a tourism zone in southwest China known for its mountains, beaches along the Gulf of Tonkin, and Buddhist temple. The Beihai, China, project by C&C Design Co. entailed transforming serviceable facilities into cinematic spaces, with glass dividers that can be lit ocean blue or sunset gold, colors found in nature. Additionally, there are lockers, men’s and women’s toilets and showers, a handwashing station with a faceted mirror that looms over­head like a stalactite, and a coffee bar, all ingeniously built into existing, eroded rock. Breathtaking views of the gulf and Pacific Ocean beyond command the most attention. The result instills visitors with the understanding that humanity is part of the natural world, reminding that we save ourselves when we protect it.

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PROJECT TEAM: PENG ZHENG; XIE ZEKUN; XIA SHENGYUE.