The Egg
- Location
- Xiamutang, China
- Typology
- Hospitality
- Stage
- Schematic Design
- Role
- In collaboration with Boramy Sina
- Year
- 2019
The Egg is a collaborative design proposal for a Children’s Teaching Restaurant, developed together with classmate Boramy Sina (Cambodia) during the AHO–TJU International Construction Workshop in Xiamutang, China. The project challenges the traditional relationship between building and ground, responding directly to the delicate rural landscape and the challenges of a highly humid climate.
Conceived from the outset as a temporary structure, the design is driven by the ambition to leave the land virtually untouched. The rounded, egg-shaped volume is elevated above the topography on slender point foundations, appearing to float just above the soil. This suspension serves a critical ecological and physical purpose: by avoiding direct contact with the ground, the building minimizes its physical footprint on the landscape, while allowing air to circulate freely both over and underneath the curved shell. This continuous, 360-degree airflow acts as a passive ventilation system, protecting the timber structure from the dampness and soil moisture typical of southern China’s climate.
The 63-square-meter program houses a kitchen, a dining hall, and a quiet tea room. Inside, the spatial experience is defined by a warm, continuous timber grid shell that wraps the interior. This parametric framework is highly efficient, performing multiple roles at once: it serves as the structural skin, the finished ceiling, and the integrated shelving that holds teaching materials. Light enters the space through deep horizontal window strips and a large circular window in the tea room. The western opening frames views of the local rice fields, while the eastern strip and the northern circular window look out toward the surrounding forest.
The exterior is clad in local wooden shingles, forming a textured, protective scale that shields the building from the elements. True to its temporary intent, the entire assembly logic is geared toward straightforward construction, disassembly, and relocation. The structure can be put together simply on-site with local skills and later removed or moved to a new location, leaving the landscape to revert completely to its natural state.
