The Flickering Peak CP·SUN RIVER Art Gallery, designed by Wutopia Lab and completed in 2024, is a striking addition to the cultural landscape of Wanning, Hainan. Located in Coffee Village, a site historically tied to overseas Chinese who returned from Indonesia, this architectural project symbolizes both the resilience of the local community and the transformative power of design. Covered with a semi-transparent white Ferrari membrane, the art center has become a visual and cultural landmark, celebrated for its dramatic interplay of light and shadow during the day and night.
Flickering Peak CP·SUN RIVER Art Gallery Technical Information
- Architects1-14: Wutopia Lab
- Location: Hainan, China
- Building Area: 2,606 m2
- Project Year: 2022 – 2024
- Photographs: © Liu Guowei
I decided to make an addition by covering each of the three buildings with a semi-transparent shell. These three shells can break free from the functional facades of the three buildings and independently shape abstracted mountain peaks. This ultimately achieves the effect of highlighting through subtraction in a complex background.
– Yu Ting, Wutopia Lab Founder
Flickering Peak CP·SUN RIVER Art Gallery Photographs
Conceptual Foundations: Mirroring History and Creating Landscapes
As a cultural emblem, the Flickering Peak transcends its immediate function as an art gallery. It reflects the larger historical narrative of Chinese returnees who established a coffee plantation against all odds. Wutopia Lab, led by chief architect Yu Ting, was tasked with creating a structure that balances substance with visual appeal, ultimately embodying hope and miracles for the community.
At the heart of the Flickering Peak’s design lies a deep connection to the history of the Chinese coffee industry, born from the efforts of overseas Chinese who fled persecution in Indonesia during the anti-Chinese movement. These individuals returned to their ancestral homeland, cleared vast tracts of land, and founded a thriving coffee industry. Their story of survival, reclamation, and triumph over adversity became a key source of inspiration for the project.
For Wutopia Lab, this history was not merely a backdrop but a driving force behind the design. The notion of creating an artificial sea in a landlocked part of Hainan, where no natural sea view exists, emerged from the client’s desire to evoke a sense of the extraordinary. The resulting design features a pool and three mountain-like structures, symbolizing both the legendary “three mountains and a pool” landscape and the metaphorical journey of the overseas Chinese—transforming hardship into prosperity.
The east and west auxiliary buildings act as secondary mountains, while the central building serves as the primary peak, anchoring the composition. An artificial sea, created in front of the main structure, further enhances the sense of a mythical landscape, paying homage to the legacy of the overseas Chinese who turned inhospitable wilderness into a thriving coffee industry.
Form, Structure, and Materiality: Addition as Subtraction
One of the key challenges faced by Wutopia Lab was the pre-existing structural constraints. The basement of the art center had already been constructed, and any new design could not alter the load-bearing beams and slab structures, nor could it exceed the original load capacity. Despite these limitations, Wutopia Lab transformed the design into a layered, terraced form, turning the boxy central building into an abstracted, multi-layered mountain.
The material choices were also heavily influenced by these structural constraints. Instead of using heavy perforated aluminum panels, Yu Ting opted for lightweight Ferrari membranes, which envelop the three buildings. These membranes, with varying degrees of perforation, form translucent shells that give the buildings their distinct flickering appearance, especially under the intense sunlight of Hainan.
This approach—referred to by Yu Ting as “addition as subtraction”—allowed the architect to redefine the building’s identity. By covering each building with a semi-transparent shell, the art center achieves a minimalist aesthetic that stands out against the backdrop of surrounding developments. This subtraction of visual complexity paradoxically serves to highlight the buildings’ forms, creating an abstracted vision of mountain peaks.
Moreover, the semi-transparent membranes detach the visual boundary from the functional boundary, creating shaded “grey spaces” between the buildings and their outer shells. This exploration of the separation of visual and climatic boundaries draws on traditional Chinese architecture, where temporary structures expand or reduce grey spaces to adapt to changing weather conditions.
Intertextuality and Symbolism: Architecture as Media
The Flickering Peak CP·SUN RIVER Art Gallery is rich with intertextual references, combining natural and architectural elements to create a highly symbolic and layered composition. From the arched lobby reminiscent of caves to the round glass windows that recall the sun, every aspect of the design engages in a dialogue with nature. The outdoor staircases that snake up the terraced structure evoke mountain paths, while the pool and landscaping reflect the artificial sea created before the main building. These elements are not just decorative; they are abstracted references to myths, memories, and symbols from Chinese culture.
The lighting design plays a crucial role in transforming the art gallery’s visual identity. During the day, the white membranes reflect in the pool, giving the buildings a sacred, almost ethereal quality. At night, however, the building undergoes a dramatic transformation. The translucent shells light up in different colors, representing a multitude of desires and emotions, turning the gallery into a vibrant “mountain of lights.” Inside the lobby, a high-contrast lighting scheme bathes the space in deep reds and blues, creating a visual homage to the works of Mark Rothko and adding an element of spiritual reflection.
This duality—between day and night, between white sanctity and colorful materiality—is central to the project’s narrative. Wutopia Lab uses architecture to explore not just physical space but philosophical ideas, drawing from the Chinese tradition of seeking “spontaneous sanctity” in material life. The building, in this sense, becomes a living, breathing entity, constantly changing with the passage of time and light.
In its totality, the Flickering Peak Art Gallery serves as a super-text—a complex narrative woven from history, legend, and myth. It is an architectural event, one that transcends its physical presence to become a medium of cultural memory and aspiration. As Yu Ting and Wutopia Lab have shown, architecture is not just about building structures but about creating meaningful experiences that resonate on a deeper, more universal level.
Flickering Peak CP·SUN RIVER Art Gallery Plans
Flickering Peak CP·SUN RIVER Art Gallery Image Gallery
About Wutopia Lab
Founded by chief architect Yu Ting in Shanghai, Wutopia Lab operates at the intersection of architecture and sociology, utilizing innovative design to reflect and promote urban cultural progress. Rooted in Shanghai’s rich cultural landscape, the firm focuses on linking traditional, daily, and cultural aspects of urban life, creating a contemporary Chinese aesthetic. With a commitment to comprehensive design, Wutopia Lab engages in every stage of the process—from early planning and analysis to landscape and interior design—offering a multidisciplinary approach that pushes the boundaries of architectural practice.
Notes & Additional Credits
- Chief Architect: Yu Ting
- Project Manager: Mu Zhilin
- Project Architects: Zhan Beidi, Guo Yuchen, Yang Siqi
- Architecture Construction Drawing Consultant: Hainan Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd.
- Interior Construction Drawing Consultant: Shanghai Chengyu Space Design Co., Ltd.
- Interior Construction Drawing Team: Dai Yunfeng, Wu Xiaoyan, Guo Jianv, Zhang Minmin, Ma Chuanchuan
- Membrane Structure Concept Design Consultant: Bespoke Creative Engineering Studio
- Membrane Structure Development and Construction: Beijing Z&T Fabric Architecture Technology Co. Ltd.
- Landscape Designer: Chongqing Weitu Landscape Design Co., Ltd.
- Client: Chia Tai (Hainan) Xinglong Coffee Industry Development Co., Ltd.
- Construction Team: China Railway Construction Group Co., Ltd.
- Lighting Design: Chloe Zhang
- Featured Model: Zhang Hanxuan
- Main Materials: Ferrari Membrane, Recycled Terrazzo, Paint
