Chongqing Longhu Yuhu No. 1 City Exhibition Hall

The City Exhibition Hall, nicknamed the Boat of Speed, has a total floor area of 950 square metres on a 20,000-square-metre site, on the Jialing River in the new central business district of Lijia, Chongqing. It sits next to the city's only low-density waterfront commercial district and future premium residential area. The hall was initially the sales demonstration centre for Longfor Yuhu No.1 and will later be used for commercial operation, art exhibitions and as a city gallery open to the public, intended to represent the future of high-end urban life in Chongqing. The boat and the stone are the image and spirit of this mountain-and-water city, so the design takes the fast boat and the stone of memory as its inspiration, using an integrated architecture, interior and landscape approach to abstract regional natural and cultural landscapes through an Eastern aesthetic, and conveying the image of the new Chongqing through a future-oriented, avant-garde architectural form. To achieve a column-free interior, structural engineers used a 34-metre-span truss that frees the building form and space, allowing the farthest cantilever to reach 15 metres. To shape the light, anti-gravity future of the boat and the gauze-like quality of the facade, the architects used parametric design to punch holes of varying sizes in composite iridescent aluminium panels, realising the gauze concept. Beneath the canopy, mirror-coated stainless steel was chosen as the skin of the corridor, combined with perforation patterns and suspended light boxes to produce a galaxy effect. The scope covers integrated architecture, landscape and interior design, architectural design and interior concept design. The result is a landmark pavilion that reads as both a boat and a stone on the waterfront, translating the regional imagery of Chongqing into a sculptural, future-facing public building.