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Architects: Atelier Guo
- Area: 10 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Ziqian Wang, Tingting Wu, Yinyin Li, Liaohui Guo
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Lead Architect: Liaohui Guo
Text description provided by the architects. Built on the riverside terrace of Yangshuo Sugar House, Fire Pit Tower is a central installation for the 2021 New Year's celebration, which will begin with a burning ceremony to welcome the new year. The installation is located on a site that was once a dock for the old sugar factory to deliver goods, and is now the space facing the landscape of Li River, making it an iconic place. After burning during the New Year's celebration in 2021, Fire Pit Tower will be rebuilt and permanently preserved on the Sugar House grounds, guiding people from the hotel's main building to Li River bank at an axially turning point of the site.
The structure and space of the fire pit tower are simple and ingenious. Join in the middle of each piece and forms a stable group, four wooden rods work as the structural prototype of the tower. Hanged from a steel cable running through the axis of the wooden structure, the fire pit was suspended from the ground and stabilized by its own weight, which acts as a damper for the main structure.
The three groups of dark gray linen are the skeletal "cloak" which follows the main structure divided into three layers. The top layer is like a patio, forming the "crown" of the "fire pit". And the bottom two layers are like traditional roofs with multiple eaves of the "roof", making the installation visually stable and guiding people into the space of the fire pit.
The translucent material allows people to see the multiple layers of the installation both under the eaves and outside the structure. Forming a space for people to rest under the roof, obscures most of the main structure. Consequently, people cannot get a full understanding of the installation at a distance but need to enter the installation and approach the fire pit to see the skeleton of the wooden structure extending upward.
