The Urban Pavilion is the centrepiece of Luosifen Town in Liuzhou — a city of two thousand years known as the largest natural bonsai in the world for the karst peaks that rise from its plain, and, more recently, as the home of luosifen, the river-snail rice noodle that has become a national phenomenon. Liuzhou combines this singular natural setting with a strong industrial base, and the pavilion was conceived as an international calling card for the town, hosting a continuing series of cultural events since opening.
The design draws on the unique local landform and the stone culture of Liuzhou. The building is an abstraction of the karst topography south of the site: two volumes, one large and one small, rising and falling in echo of the distant peaks. Tilted facades and full circular openings produce a sequence of unexpected spatial experiences, while roof terraces — oriented toward the best views — link the smaller shell to the upper floor of the larger one through an integrated walkway, extending the interior into the open air.
At the heart of the pavilion a grand top-lit atrium, its triangulated grid of skylights filling the hall with daylight and life, anchors a circular exhibition route: town hall, industry hall, enterprise hall and multimedia hall together tell the story of luosifen from cultivation and production to sale. A monumental stair wraps the central exhibition and carries visitors to the open roof terrace, where the surrounding noodle industry and modern agricultural base unfold against the karst horizon. Completed in 2020 for SUNAC Group, the building won the Architecture MasterPrize (Commercial and Recreational Architecture) and the DNA Paris Design Awards (Cultural and Hospitality Architecture) in 2021, and was a finalist at the WAN Awards.