A transparent pavilion between pine forest and sea in rizhao

Sofia RahalARCHITECTURE4 months ago3.7K ViewsShort URL

Following the success of the “Coffee and Tree” café, the architects were invited to design a new seaside cafeteria in one of Rizhao’s most extraordinary natural settings, positioned precisely where a Black Pine forest meets the shoreline. The site had been compromised over time by scattered and disorderly structures. The new project was conceived as both a spatial and visual bridge, restoring the landscape while creating a gentle threshold between forest and sea.

The design emerged as an exercise in maximum transparency. Three stepped glass rectangles, aligned parallel to the waterline, define the building. From every point inside, as well as from the upper terraces, visitors can look through the structure toward both the ocean and the pine forest. The architecture becomes a frame, not an obstacle, allowing the two landscapes to visually flow into each other.

THREE FLOATING VOLUMES SHAPED BY LIGHT, VIEWS AND THE TIDE

Each of the three volumes sits at a different height, rising in seventy-centimetre increments and lifting the entire building above the sand, positioned six metres above tide level. This subtle terracing organises the café program while preserving the horizontal sweep of the coast. When the sliding doors are opened, the interior transforms into a continuous open-air platform infused with the scent and sound of the sea.

The upper terrace offers the most expansive views, supported by a refined section of just 6.80 metres above ground. Here, the line between architecture and landscape becomes almost imperceptible, turning the café into a vantage point suspended between sky and water.

COLOUR, RHYTHM AND ATMOSPHERE THROUGH RECYCLED ALUMINUM

Inside, the ceiling extends the rhythm of the outdoor sunshades, all constructed from recycled aluminium tubes painted in five colours. This chromatic palette animates the space with a maritime identity, echoing the brightness of the coastline and the shifting hues of the sea. The design balances precision with playfulness, turning a simple café into a spatial experience shaped by light, reflection and movement.

Although the architects affectionately referred to the project as “Chiringuito,” evoking the informal beach bars found along the Spanish coast, the client ultimately named it “Coffee and Sea,” expanding a series of nature-oriented cafés planned for the region.

From the shoreline, the building almost dissolves. Its presence is legible only through the reflections on its glass surfaces and the silhouettes of pine trees that merge with the guests inside. In this near-invisible pavilion, architecture recedes so that landscape and people become the true protagonists.