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Designed by Beijing-based META-Project, this mountainside structure looks like a villain’s secluded lair in a James Bond film. Its purpose in reality, however, is a lot less foreboding.

Peering over the icy Songhua Lake from a distance, the monolithic building is an open ski pavilion, offering a little respite from the Chinese slopes to skiers visiting the nearby resort.

Positioned at the top of a steep slope and the edge of a dense forest, the pavilion is totally submerged in the natural environment and its dramatic elements: overwhelming white snow in winter, and lush woodlands in warmer months.

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While it is certainly spectacular at a distance, material details make a closer viewing almost equally as enchanting. Made up of a heavy concrete base and an upper platform that acts as a ‘stage’, the building’s exterior is clad in thatched Shou-Sugi-Ban charred cedar. To offset the timber, the concrete base also carries a wood-like texture.

Inside, an open oval skylight cuts through the red cedar roof—allowing both sunlight and snowflakes to float in. A second oval cutting in the floor of the platform has a glass pane but allows a clear view of the snowy slope below. For META-Project, it seems the idea of inside-outside architecture, or designing in nature, is about opening out new connections with the environment.

Words by Sammy Preston.

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[Images courtesy of META-Project. Photography by Su Shengliang, Shibiao Cao, Vanke Songhua Lake Resort & Shardisland.]

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