✜ Project Brief

Luxelakes Whirlpool Café is located on the core waterfront of Luxelakes Park in Chengdu, adjacent to the Whirlpool Theater. It is a considered, in-depth renovation of an existing waterfront building. The project does not pursue a signature gesture; instead it adopts a strategy of “fading,” allowing the architecture to align with the whirlpool-shaped shoreline and re-integrate into the site’s flows and order.

By subtly adjusting the footprint along the shoreline and retracting its edges—while fully preserving vehicle access and service functions—the volume is brought closer to the waterline and the building’s otherness is diminished. The original structural system is largely retained, with the outermost columns removed to reduce the roof’s mass, producing a spatial tension of “restrained interior, relaxed exterior.” A fully operable ultra-clear glass façade reinforces openness and adaptability; a multi-layer planted roof with Corten-like detailing makes the building read as if it grows from the landscape. Programmatically the project integrates display, dining and service areas and uses dual entrances to the park and the water to establish natural land–water connectivity. Luxelakes Whirlpool Café operates both as a shared living room and a flexible stage for community events, quietly sustaining the public life of the waterfront.

✜ Project Information

Project name: Luxelakes Whirlpool Café
Project type: Renovation / Park & Community Retail
Location: Luxelakes Eco-City, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
Gross floor area: 330 m²
Architecture Firm: MUDA-Architects
Principal Architect: Yun LU
Design team: Fan HE, Yao FU, Jiayu SUN, Ziyu LIU, Ziren WANG
Design period: Aug 2024 – Aug 2025
Client: Chengdu Widehorizon New Town Development Co., Ltd. — Widehorizon Landscape Center
Construction Drawings: Chengdu SUNWAY INTERNATIANAL Architectural Design Co., Ltd.
Landscape design: Z+T Studio
Interior design: Gokan Studio
FF&E: Chengdu Vanderlo Furniture
Construction: China Construction Shenzhen Decoration Co., Ltd.
Photography: © Arch-Exist; © DongWang Photography