Shenzhen-based design firm Sunson Design has created a small ecological miniature of "city rainforest" at the heart of Nanbo Bay Reception Center in Yinchuan, China.

Named Nanbo Bay Reception Center, the project offers natural, warm and mysterious space by creating a natural ecology at the entrance of the building. 

Filled with plenty of plants and trees, the space is full of the ritual sense that entering this hall will step into an "isolated" natural park.

Atrium garden

Sentimental water meanders to Nanbo Bay which is adjacent to China Yinchuan Cultural Park, backed by wetland. Thousands of acres of lake city form a bay of beautiful scenery. The river surrounds the buildings with half-moon-shaped, likes the jade belt around the waist. The “Crowned river” Fengshui layout makes this architecture with good eyesight.

Abundant water resources and virescence have shown the project theme of "Nature, Science, and Humanities". Sunson Design makes the advantage of ecological conditions of living follows the water, which has let the visitors experience the ecological urbanization life and cultural heritage in advance and felt being accompanied by the mountains and lakes, where you will only want to enjoy the architecture.

Cloud trees and water features outside the building

Inside, the designers used a divergent wooden dome that simulates the sunlight, underneath which there’s a circular water view device marked with “Life should be spent on enjoying good things”, which showed life should be good and don’t waste time. Enjoy the lights, flowers, scenery, and settle down.

Atrium garden

The studio described the reception hall as "a small ecological miniature of "city rainforest" that the picturesque disorder bamboo forests, banyan trees, plantains, and other fresh green plants, and the low shrubs, wooden negotiation tables, and chairs has formed a longitudinally extending "indoor rainforest", which realized the organic combination of indoor, landscape and virescence design.

Atrium garden discussion area

Looking up to the top, the cut pine and cypress trees are suspended, which reminds visitors to be in awe and return to nature, also to nourish the spiritual kingdom by sunlight, springs, and trees in a busy life. 

The corridor continues the natural ecological style, using logs, green plants, and undulating trees to enrich the spatial levels, the covering glass dome to draw light into the room and illuminate the atrium, which emphasizes the landscape of the transition from the outside to the inside.

Atrium garden

Step out of the "rain forest" and walk into the sand table display area, where the small natural ecological landscape and stone walls highlight the key points of the space.

There are no very gorgeous lighting and other installations. Take the soft film ceiling above the sand table to focus the light, and the immortal moss to be the decorative carpet below, which has echoed the natural theme. It's like rowing a small boat. When you look up, there’s full of sunshine; when you bow, there’s full of reeds. It’s like walking slowly on the bank of a river, having a Utopian holiday, or watching the sunset in the desert.

Atrium garden walkway

Science and Humanities

Courtyard without disturbance, quiet room full of tranquility. 

There is a ladder book bar on the left side of the reception hall. The floor-to-ceiling glass introduces natural light, which increases the permeability, allowing readers to be in the "golden house" and enjoy a quiet reading time. 

The bookshelf wall between the bar and the corridor is a humanistic door that can trace the origins. The designer has borrowed the conception of the Yinchuan Water Tunnel Ruin here that to tell persons of the prosperous and historical heritage of ancient Yinchuan 30,000 years ago by the “sealed” animal fossil specimens which are made by resin and iron.

In the dining area, continuous arch elements bring a sense of exoticism, reflecting the harmony, communication, and warmth of the space.

Sand table area

Bright wallpaper with melon and fruit patterns, bamboo screens and window lattices, and original wooden tables and chairs all continue the natural ecological characteristics.

The reception area is bright and private. The custom hanging lamp woven by hemp rope shines like a galaxy. The office chairs made of half-wrapped flannel provide a sense of comfort and security for both parties, which gives full play to the functionality of the space.

Sand table area 

The landscaped courtyard has its own unique features. The wooden sphere floor-to-ceiling sculpture remains motionless at the "opposite bank", like a rock, a reed, a unique pastoral landscape.

Reading area across two floors

The outer glass wall of the swimming pool creates the visual illusion of "zero gravity", which makes people feel like swimming in the air and traveling around the world. The long wooden benches and stone sculptures by the pool, the soft film ceiling, and the glass light well allow the space to blend trees, water, music, natural light, and stone carving in nature.

Restaurant

With the first sunlight in the morning, the smile of the beloved, and the original taste of nature, people enjoy being embracing by the nature in Nanbo Bay and being embraced by nature. When nights come on, myriad lights twinkling around the warm harbor.

Dinning room

Discussion area on the second floor

Pool viewing and rest area

Pool viewing and rest area

Viewing terrace on the second floor

Long corridor on the ground floor

Hall of time

Hall of time

Facade

Project facts

Project name: Nanbo Bay One Reception Center

Project location: Yinchuan, China

Construction organization: YC JianFa Properties Ltd.

Client: YC JianFa Properties Ltd.

Completed time: 2020.11

Indoor floor area: 4,745㎡

Interior design company: Sunson Design Ltd.

Design director: Jun Pan

Design team: Zhijun Luo, Xia Luo, Yuling Zou, Xuemei Chen, Qing He, Wenhao Ye, Xiaoyi Liu

Interior photography © Kanghui Zeng

> via Sunson Design