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“A new architectural typology that fuses ancient worship of nature with contemporary urban cultural life.” OPEN Architecture’s description of its Sun Tower, an oceanfront cultural facility in the Yantai Yeda Development Zone, might sound like hyperbole — but the building more than lives up to it. This heroic structure is both an awesome monument to behold and a vantage point to take in dazzling natural phenomena.

Appearing as a skewed, 50-metre-tall cone sliced in half, Sun Tower is composed of two cast-in-place white concrete shells connected by ramps that host digital exhibitions. Its geometry captures the movement of the sun: The northern edge of the outer shell is parallel to the sunlight at noon on the spring and autumn equinoxes; on the summer solstice, the outdoor theatre’s axis points toward sunrise over Zhifu Island and the roof’s circular outline is perpendicular to midday sunlight; and on the winter solstice, the entrance tunnel aligns with the sunset.

The building’s spaces are also designed to bring visitors into closer contact with the natural world. The concave inner volume amplifies sounds from the sea; at its pinnacle, an upside-down shell houses the library and “Phenomena Space,” which frames the ocean view. An oculus above allows rainwater to enter and be captured by a pool; the water swirls for nine minutes every hour, honouring the passage of time. At the building’s base, meanwhile, the semi-outdoor theatre merges with a seashell-shaped stone plaza to form a full circle.

This plaza is also carved with a linear water channel that marks time on the equinoxes: As it moves, the shadow of the tower’s northern edge intersects each in a series of elliptical rings on the hour. Celebrating the traditional lunar calendar, nearby fountains are programmed to spray in harmony with the sea’s high and low tides.

OPEN Architecture believes that, in order to confront the climate crisis, we need to cultivate a deeper philosophical and spiritual shift in our relationship with nature — and Sun Tower was conceived to inspire this reorientation “of our positions within cosmic rhythms and natural processes, and of our connection to Earth and Sky.”

Team: Hu Li and Wenjing Huang