Yantai, on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern China, is a rapidly expanding city. Located on the southern coast of Bohai Strait, between the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, it represent the largest fishing seaport of the province and during the last ten years it has grown fast, reaching a population of 6 and a half million inhabitants. Its name – which in Chinese means “smoke tower” – derives from the watchtowers constructed on Mount Qi in 1398 during the Ming dynasty, as a warning against wokou pirates.
The city wanted to create a landmark on the coast, in its fast-developing new district, one of the earliest special economic zones in the country and today a significant industrial powerhouse. Recipient of the Jeu d’Esprit Special Prize of AR Future Project Awards 2021, the Sun Tower concept proposed by Open aims to evoke the ancient rituals of nature-worship, providing at the same time cultural facilities in the newly urbanised district.
The 50-metre high tower sits inside a gently sloping plaza and features a large curvilinear structure, designed according to careful studies of the sunlight. The shell structure – achieved through close collaboration with engineering firm Arup – is composed by two layers of slanted white concrete connected and braced by horizontal slabs and ramps and appears sliced open by beams of light, in order to reveal the sea to the interior spaces and vice-versa.
The building comprises a semi-outdoor theatre, a winding exhibition space and a library on the top. It also has a semi-outdoor space on the roof, called “phenomena space”, designed to give to the visitors the possibility to observe atmospherical phenomena throughout the year. Facing the sea, the concave inner shell acts as a sound collector, absorbing and amplifying the sounds from the waves. The smaller upside-down upper shell houses the light-filled library and the ‘phenomena space’, which overlooks the water and opens to the sky. The oculus in the centre of its ceiling allows in Summer rainwater to enter and fill a small pool, while in the Winter the pool is dry and used as a fireplace.