Preface
The Mediterranean was the cradle of civilization for cities like Rome, Cairo and Athens. These three cities, together with Xi’an, are recognized as the four great metropolises from the ancient time. The new Mediterranean cultural destination will reunite these ancient metropolises and act as a forum of exchanging contemporary ideas.

The Experience
Linked by a sunken pathway, six settlements with distinct Mediterranean themes are established across the island. The path will lead visitors through a discovery journey of the contemporary Mediterranean culture. It traces the earth-bounding experience of merchants and voyagers on the Silk Road in the past.

The main floors of the pavilions are also half buried in the ground with monumental forms looming overhead. These forms recall the achievement of ancient civilizations, as well as the relationship between human and nature. The architectural concept for this proposal explores the cultural destination as an ecosystem, as a community and as geography.

The new Silk Road as an ecosystem
The aquatic setting of the cultural destination has a strong reference to the marina habitats in the Mediterranean region. In this proposal, the buildings “grow” around the island and protect a lagoon within, giving birth to a unique ecosystem of its own. The architecture becomes a colony of living organisms that play a balancing act in this ecosystem.

The new Silk Road as a community
The Silk Road was not a physical pathway: it ligamented of a series of human settlements. It was the first real global community. The new Silk Road project, comprised of four cultural regions and five cultural destinations, revisits the idea of global community. The interlocking forms in this proposal symbolize the interdependency among different countries beyond those that border the Mediterranean Sea.

The new Silk Road as geography
Culture heightens and falls; dynasty prospered and failed; relationship between nations can be dormant for hundreds of years and revive in an instant. The cycle of history perpetuates like tidal waves. In this proposal, the modulating shapes do not translate to the superficial texture of the ocean, but to the cyclical nature of culture, power and the historic ties between nations.