Yaluntzangpu River Terminal
雅鲁藏布江小码头

In July 2007, EMBAIXADA was invited by the Chinese office STANDARDARCHITECTURE and the landscape architect Cláudia Taborda, to take part on the Yalung Tzumbo River Canyon Development project. This was a major size project, aiming the development of a touristic compound in Tibet, along with the Yalung Tzumbo river banks in an extension of several kilometres. EMBAIXADA participated in the master plan discussion and took part in the global intervention strategy definition, being after that responsible for the conception of two of the interventions point. The Yaluntzangpu wharf is one of those two sites.

The intervention at this site was the replacement of an existing wharf near a small rural community, Pai village. This new pier will be used both by the local community and the tourist routes substituting the existing one, which lacked security and strength for the extreme site conditions.

The first levels of decision making on this project were made in situ, in a survey visit, were together with STANDARDARCHITECTURE the decision of the new position and implantation was made. Following the general indications of local authorities, a specific site between two trees was found and chosen.

Programmatically, besides its main function as a wharf, the building arbours a small indoor cafeteria and waiting room, defining at the very same time a protect outdoor space.

Taking into consideration the main concept developed for the global intervention strategy and the design of the Niang’Ou wharf, it was clear since the very beginning the intention to use the same semantic and morphological approach. The new wharf is therefore a piece that before everything else takes into consideration the landscape and its scale, focus on vernacular construction methodology and melting into its surroundings.