Text description provided by the architects. The Conch Station is located in Letao Bay, Wanning, Hainan, adjacent to coconut groves and beaches along the sea shore. As part of the ongoing coastline landscape improvement project for the Shenzhou Peninsula, the Conch Station aims to enhance public services and visitor experience. The site faces the enormous scale of the nature. The design of the Conch Station chooses to blend the spatial boundary into the surrounding landscape. Two curved walls rise gently from the site, and the station's functional spaces recede between the white walls and the roof.
Visitors coming from the beach or the market can amble into the central courtyard along the curved walls. The open space would gradually become enclosed and secluded, leaving only the sound of the tides and the sea breezes. The curved white surfaces quietly receive the light, and the shades change constantly as the sunlight shifts. The shadows of the lush coconut palms sway gently across the white walls. The gaps between the walls and the roof slabs serve as pathways for pedestrian movement. The curved walls themselves possess a sculptural quality, while the resulting space blends quietly into the surrounding environment.
The changing curvature of the walls creates a sense of gradual narrowing and contraction as one enters the "conch shell". The lower edge of the roof slab (with upturned beam) is set at 2.4 meters, an intentionally low height, to add to the dramatic experience of transitioning from an infinite space to a finite one.
A spiral system forms the spatial guideline: the western spiral houses the restroom zone, the central spiral encloses an inner courtyard with sinks and foot-washing area, and the smaller northeastern spiral provides a beverage service counter and open-air lounge area facing the coconut grove and beach. The exposed aggregate concrete floor extends beyond the wall's boundaries and provides a platform for relaxation.
In contrast with the roaring sea tides and the wild coconut groves, the overall temperament of the Conch Station is gentle and calm. The Conch Station does not intend to become the dominant character of the space; it quietly stands by the edge of the beach. However, in an unnoticed moment, the vortex formed by the spiral walls starts to resonate with the sea tides.
After the project was completed, we returned to the site and were surprised to find that the island's residents had spontaneously "occupied" the space of the Conch Station. At dusk, the white walls became a backdrop for video projection; residents and tourists gathered here, drumming and dancing. This was a kind of "bustle" we hadn't anticipated in our initial design: the tides of the sea waves and the tides of the community life have converged in the Conch Station.
CONCH STATION
LOCATION Wanning, China
ARCHITECT Perform Design Studio
PHOTOGRAPHY Shein Atlas