Design instructions for the DieXi Gemstone Exhibition Center

In recent years, Sichuan Maoxian Diexi County has extended and opened up the gemstone industry chain by taking gemstones as the core, cultivating gemstone culture deeply and developing comprehensive tourism industry. A comprehensive cultural and creative building integrating gemstone trading, creative research and development, exchange and training, cultural experience, and tourism services has become the key point of its scenic spot development. Based on the above-mentioned background, the DieXi Gemstone Exhibition Center was brought into existence. The project is located at the entrance of DieXi County of Maoxian, adjoining the 213 national highway right next to the Songpinggou Scenic Area. It is 230 kilometers south of Chengdu  and 190 kilometers north of Jiuzhaigou. The building area is 2840 square meters. It is an important traffic node in the west line of the Ninth Ring, a must pass through from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou.

To create a "museum-like" cultural and creative space has been our goal from the beginning. To this end, the designers reserved the most flexible display space for the realization of various display combinations. In our opinion, the spatial experience of individual units is limited, and only through the design of paths to form scenes and storytelling can the effect be exciting.

The spatial form is derived from the nationalized graphics in the story of "Moon above the Cloud", in order to create an auspicious and beautiful symbolism. The corridor is a flowing space shaped by curved walls of different radii, echoing the shape of the "ribbon" on the ceiling, and gathering from the entrance of the exhibition hall to the center of the circle step by step. The gradually changing ceiling lines give the vertical space a rhythmic variation. The interior and exterior sides are all glazed to fully integrate the outdoor landscape into the building, and the natural landscape is framed as part of the exhibition.

At the beginning, the architects wanted to balance the commercial space and the art space: the interior layout is inspired by the geometric features of the "concentric circles", shaping a jewelry art showroom with friendly volume and pleasant dimension. The elements of design are extracted from the concentric circles and domes, and the smooth enclosure of multiple circular squares is used to form a rich and versatile space to meet the multi-functional requirements of exhibition, meeting, reception and catering. The chessboard grid facade presented in the exhibition hall space enables the building to interpret the geometric three-dimensional light and shadow effect under the sunlight, creating a feeling of being outside while you are inside by the changing of wall material, by doing which the exhibition hall is perfectly integrated into the surrounding natural environment.