Peak attraction

By digitally reconstructing the topography of the mountain throughout the area and setting up algorithms, Li's design team simulated the flow of air over the plot. Combining with the functional requirements of the building itself, a series of topological curves were generated and developed into the Hilltop Art Gallery, which is in the shape of rolling hills from the outside, and its irregularly shaped interior offers more space for the presentation of artworks.

Nature, architecture and interior decoration become a whole, or rather the boundaries between them are deliberately blurred in this design. Li says he hopes people will enter the building along the mountain, follow the undulations of the building structure to explore the different sized interior spaces, then inadvertently walk through the outdoor walkway to the highest point of the building and view the Great Wall from afar.

From idea generation to design development and the final construction, digital technology has been at the core of the project. The gallery is an exploration of the architectural design concept "digital east".

"I always believe that architecture is an organic life form just like a human being, and the design and construction of a building is also the result of the interaction of many external forces. This is what we often refer to as digital architecture or parametric design. Any external factor is a parameter that influences the creation of a building, so in a sense, architecture is not static, but should change in response to changes in external conditions, achieving a state of self-renewal and evolution," says Li.

He says while it is difficult to bring buildings to life in practice, in some ways it is possible to make use of new technologies to make buildings and spaces increasingly intelligent.

Li says digital architecture is a future area. "Design must be ahead of the times and based on rationality." He says, "At this stage, there may be no way to make the building fully transformable due to technical constraints, but it will definitely be able to move, like a living organism that can grow and transform, and can change in completely different ways depending on the different functional spaces inside in the future."