Kunming, China

Rather than subject visitors to a fevered sales pitch, this Sales Office for a fast-developing community is conceived as a cultural and regional natural history experience. Located adjacent to a wetland preserve the building provides a unique experience for property buyers.

Arriving on site, visitors leave their cars and enter through a calming wetland garden. The garden begins the transition from car and the city to a more natural setting where water, vegetation, and adjoining pagodas, special walls and paving patterns provide a multi-cultural and international Asian experience.

Building form developed from the need for the visitor experience to be a sequential order of events, together with a strong desire for openness and connections to the outdoors. Site and building circulation is precisely arranged to avoid conflicts and intersecting paths, while expansive glass walls provide a connection to nature. Layered roofs protect the glass from direct sun while clerestory windows and a central garden introduce daylight deep into the building to balance natural light and reduce glare.