Cantilevered concrete and wood lookout frames astounding views

Built on a mountainside at China’s Songhua Lake Resort, this striking building was designed to offer summer and winter visitors a place to rest and reflect on the scenic surroundings. It can also serve as a flexible event space for meetings, exhibitions, workshops, and more.

The architects—META-Project—conceived the structure as a kind of stage, raised on a concrete plinth and flaring out in a fan shape toward the view of the valley below.

Visitors approach the Stage of Forest from a series of switchbacking walkways that also serves to control their view of the building and the scenery.

“Because the orientation of the distant view (horizontal unfolding lake), and the close view (vertical extending slope) is at a different angle, the building results in a twisted gesture between the wood ‘stage’ and the concrete ‘base,’” explain the architects.

Guests enter through the concrete foundation, which was formed with wood moulds to give it a textured surface. The upper part of the building is clad in charred cedar shingles. Contrasting with the muted exterior palette, the interior is paneled with natural red cedar, the planks seemingly guiding visitors toward the panoramic lookout.

Via: ArchDaily