The history of the German occupation left Qingdao many European-style buildings. Together with the existing Han and Confucian cultures, they form a unique sense of beauty with the blending between Eastern and Western cultures.

The Sea Churned Within
Facing the sea, the building is located in the harbor area with diverse histories. The designer from Waterfrom Design who is responsible for the space design of this center intends to present the natural magnificence of the rising and falling of waves through the architectural structure. From the outside of the panoramic glass curtain of this two-story building, you can see the pure and smooth structure of the interior. The void in the center of the entrance brings the contrast feeling of enlargement after entering the building. While the long and extended special paint marks in the horizontal direction hint a sense of flow like layers of ocean waves, it also conveys smoothness and perspective.

By adopting the concept of interior architecture, most of the beams and columns are incorporated into the modelling wall. The integrated and extended curvature allows the advancing and retreating surfaces to construct layers of corridors and hidden entrances and exits, creating a meandering and peaceful path through them. Paired with the coherent medium in neutral color, it slowly raises the inherent power of emotional stillness. There are different levels of viewing on the path. Along the wall and follow the light, you can find the sea and sky that you have yarned for at the end of the road. Here, ordinary walks turns into a continuous wandering stroll.

Light Penetrating the Deep Space
The concept of interior architecture continues. In addition to thinking about the landscape windows facing the sea, the designer also used the joints between the advancing and retreating surfaces of walls and the inclination of the curved surfaces to create indoor openings which look like they have been formed by nature. Natural light at different time points are guided into the room and penetrated into the deep space.

The stairs between the first and second floor forms a long narrow corridor. The designer closed the openings at both sides and used a special paint and terrazzo to create a bright and clean tunnel. The only natural light shines in through the overhead patio. The front and rear sections were deliberately extruded to create the sense of space with curved ceilings. The bright scene blooms right under the patio thus magnifies the eternal tranquility for bathing in the sky light at this moment.

The designer also makes the interior lighting very ingenious. The light flows quietly in the gap between the facade and floor and grows stronger or weaker as the structure turns. It also changes all the hugeness and heaviness into lightness and dancing, just like churning waves and glistening ripples outside the window. As for the pure facade under the natural light, when the twilight falls and the lights are turned on, the light beams which have been hidden intricately give the interior architecture a sense of mystery and neatness from the avant-garde technology. These two views are in contrast to each other with different sentiments.

The Winding and Release of Chinese and Western Aesthetics
By taking advantage of the nature of the materials and the texture presented by the rearrangement, we hope that the fusion of Chinese and Western histories in Qingdao can be reflected in the outline of this building in a more abstract form. For example, terrazzo with modern European style, hand-brushed paints in the horizontal direction and the organic and smooth surface all symbolize the pure power pursued by the contemporary Western aesthetics. Meanwhile, the reddish and stable solid wood, straight-grained texture deduced from grilles and the blank artistic conception from the coexistence of fullness and emptiness deduce the philosophical thinking of Chinese aesthetics. Through materials and architectural structure, these two cultures are integrated into a harmonious atmosphere.

The two aesthetic backgrounds in different contexts have found their comfortable appearances in the usual architectural formation, which continues the urban customs of Qingdao’s coastal area and provides a quiet experience through leisure wandering in a space.