Architects: ARCHSTUDIO
Area: 4,917 m²
Year: 2023
Photography: Weiqi Jin
Lead Architects: Wenqiang Han, Xiaoming Li
Design Team: Zhao Jiang, Tonghui Wang, Chong Cao, Chenhan Wen
Collaborators: Wuhan Light Industry Architectural Design Co., Ltd., The Architectural Design & Research Institute of Zhejiang University Co., Ltd. (UAD)
Engineering: Hubei Metallurgical Construction Co., Ltd., Hubei Guangsheng Construction Group Co., Ltd.
Landscape: Shanghai Gardens Group Co., Ltd.
Clients: Hubei Culture & Tourism Group Co., Ltd. / Hubei Yunhua Rural Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd.
Program: Cultural Architecture, Interior Design
City: Yichang
Country: China

Sanxia Tea Town Exhibition Center, designed by ARCHSTUDIO in Yichang, Hubei Province, integrates seamlessly with its surrounding tea gardens. Completed in 2023, the 4,917 m² center serves as a multifunctional hub for cultural and tourist activities within Sanxia Tea Town. The design incorporates hybrid functions, including reception, dining, cultural sales, exhibition, performance spaces, and coworking areas. With a focus on integrating the building into the natural landscape, the center offers panoramic views and enhances the eco-tourism experience. The architecture creates an immersive journey through its innovative use of space and connection with the environment.

Sanxia tea town exhibition center / archstudio

Sanxia Tea Town, a resort in Dengcun Town, Yichang City, Hubei Province, is surrounded by extensive tea gardens and located 19 kilometers from the Three Gorges Dam. The resort aims to create a high-quality eco-tourism cluster that integrates outdoor exploration, pastoral experience, forest therapy, and luxury vacation. The exhibition center, an essential part of the resort’s early construction phase, spans approximately 5,000 square meters and includes reception, dining, cultural product sales, exhibition, performance, and coworking spaces, acting as a display window for Sanxia Tea Valley’s culture.

ARCHSTUDIO used limited space in the tea garden to integrate the building volumes seamlessly into the landscape. This design strategy balances iconic identity and functionality by placing the exhibition center on two plots. Plot A is a flat open space surrounded by two small hills, adjacent to a winding mountain road. It overlooks tea fields and distant mountains. The square in front of the hill, extended to the top of the hills, creates a “bridge”-like building between the hills.

The “bridge” structure aligns with the hill’s height and shape. The south area unfolds in an arc, connecting with the traditional house and maximizing views of the tea garden landscape. The north side uses straight lines to strengthen the “bridge’s” volume and hide it in the hills. Underneath the “bridge” is a square for tourists’ gatherings, evacuations, and activities.

Plot B, next to the square where the road turns, offers a fantastic sightseeing spot due to the large elevation difference and dotted woods. Two “viewing windows,” a wide one and a long one, frame the tea fields and mountainous scenery. These windows create a small performance space with a roof flush with the road, forming a public viewing terrace.

The architects designed visually appealing buildings that interact with the surrounding scenery, creating a strolling path that immerses tourists in the tea field experience. The buildings feature transparent facades, multiple access points, and a circulation path resembling a Mobius loop. Large, undulating steps connect with the square, serving as both a welcoming gesture and a natural backdrop for activities. These steps lead upwards to the main leisure space on the second floor.

The building’s curve extends to the eastern and western wings through an outdoor corridor. The eastern end features gentle sloping steps enclosing a small courtyard with a traditional house. Visitors can easily access the roof terrace from here. The western building has a slightly lifted rooftop forming steps, creating a small outdoor activity square facing the northern landscape. Outdoor steps connect the interior on the second floor. Spiral stairs and elevators in the building’s center vertically connect the first floor, second floor, and roof terrace.

Beneath the large steps on Plot A lies the eastern part of the first floor, a tourist reception center providing functions such as reception, display, rest, waiting, and agricultural product sales. The design maintains the curved shape of the top surface beneath the steps and creates a circular tea tree courtyard defining the main entrance. Indoor functional areas are arranged in islands, with LED screens facilitating various activities. The west side of the first floor houses an independently operated coworking area.

The “bridge” on the second floor serves as a cafe and book bar. Curved laminated bamboo panel bookshelves, inspired by tea fields, combine with coffee tables to divide the space, allowing visitors to enjoy views while reading and sipping coffee. The traditional house on the east side of the second floor, renovated and connected to the new building, serves as the main dining area. It includes open dining space, private dining rooms, a tea room, and a chess & card room. Timber and rammed-earth finishes set the restaurant’s tone, responding to the locality of the building. The roof terrace offers a stunning view, perfect for camping or parties under the stars.

Plot B complements Plot A’s leisure and entertainment functions with an audio-visual and multi-functional hall accommodating up to 100 people. These halls can host film and TV performances, weddings, and other activities. The motorized screen panel system allows flexible modes for the audio-video hall. When opened, the tea garden landscape becomes a natural background for music performances. When closed, the space provides a better projection environment. The multi-functional hall, with a broad field of view, can serve as an ancillary space for the audio-visual hall or as an independent small exhibition space.