SWAN LAKE BRIDGE HOUSE AND VIEWING TOWER

A visitor centre designed by Trace Architecture

Office for a park in Rongcheng, China, is a long
and thin concrete bridge complete with a
lighthouse-like viewing tower clad in wooden
shingles.

Called Bridge House, the Centre is located to the

north-east of Swan Lake Park, Shandong
Province, where it faces out onto the wetland
landscape and backs onto a dense pine forest.

The concrete structure was cast in-situ using

pinewood formwork, bringing a texture to the
interiors that helps to introduce some warmth and
also responds to the nearby forest.

The simple concrete 71-metre-long structure

sandwiches visitor services between two long
viewing galleries, spanning soft soil and water.

Circulation for Bridge House has been pushed to

its outer edges, where two corridors become areas
to view both the wetland and the forest.

The two sides are semi-open corridors with

different atmospheres – the east corridor near the
pine forest is introverted and quiet while the west
corridor facing the wetland is extroverted and
open.

Between these corridors, the southern end of the

structure houses the cafe, with a glazed skin that
allows it to be used year-round.

A small path leads from the Centre to the nearby

viewing tower, which stands at 15.6 meters tall
and resembles a lighthouse.

JAY TANK