d+a | Issue 121 • 2021

/ COMMERCIAL / 58 “I therefore got the idea to try to capture all that in the building.” Further allowing this was the client’s brief – or lack thereof. Envisioned to have two lives, the project is for now a sales gallery and later, to be donated to the municipal government to adapt into an art gallery and museum. This means the functions are “ambiguous”, explains Tan, with only the need for basic facilities like washrooms and lifts. With this in mind, he had only to design the highest ceilings and afford the building as much transparency as possible to take advantage of the mountain views. The two-storey building that stands today is an amalgamation of all those ideas. The origami-style, undulating roof is its most striking feature, reflecting the silhouette of Yunnan’s mountain ranges. Created by parametric design, it is made from concrete and covered by triangular, perforated aluminium panels with lights beneath them. Windows of the same shape are cut into the roof, which because of the way it folds over the building, becomes the walls of the second floor. Most of the ground immediately 04 04. Created by parametric design, the roof is made from concrete and covered by triangular, perforated aluminium panels with lights beneath them.