Mythical giants. Divine messengers. Living islands. Mystical deities. In maritime lore and legend, whales are both revered and feared, with the immense aquatic mammals perceived as both protectors and adversaries. For Shanghai-based firm Wutopia Lab, the mammoth and mysterious creatures served as direct inspiration for its gateway to the Jinsha Golden Island residential complex by Jinsha Group in the city of Shangqiu in Henan province.
Aptly called Whale Gate, the 242-square-metre structure forms the entrance to the archipelago-like masterplan of Jinsha Golden Island, which features multiple high-end residential buildings — or “floating islands” — dispersed among a network of lush green spaces, dense plantings, man-made lakes and other water features. This arrangement led Wutopia Lab co-founder and architect Yu Ting to “reference ancient Chinese imaginaries of mythical islands in the sea — idealized places separated from the pressures of ordinary reality,” when his firm was asked to create the unconventional entrance.
Whale Gate was designed by Wutopia Lab as a “simplified architectural figure” rather than a realistic rendition, creating a curious threshold that strengthens its mysticism. To bring the sea animal to life, the team used a six-layer structural system comprised of upwards of 4,000 individual components: a steel frame, connection rods, aluminum substructure, waterproof layers, fin-shaped profiles and double-curved aluminum honeycomb composite panels, the last of which were chosen for their durability, lightweight performance and, perhaps most importantly, capability of realizing complex curved surfaces.
With its twisted and irregular geometry, the construction of the approximately 60 tonne biomorphic sculpture relied on the custom fabrication of its steel and aluminum elements to accommodate the varying curvatures and torsions. Steel columns were segmented into seven to 15 pieces and nearly 10,000 three-dimensional coordinate points were produced to ensure exacting millimetre-level precision, while a total of 1,170 uniquely shaped aluminum panels provided the form with visual continuity despite its complex and highly customized geometry. Painted a deep cobalt blue, the exterior aluminum shell brings the whale to life and impart a striking contrast against its natural and man-made surroundings.
Finished a metallic gold, the underbelly of the beast is where people enter the residential complex, with the ambiguous “eyes” forming vertical openings that shelter the walkway paved in smooth stones. This luminous hue is repeated on a staircase carved into the whale’s back that ascends to a viewing platform. Accessible only to the residences, the elevated terrace features a shade canopy made from white-painted aluminum; comprised of a slender stem and radial circular awning, the structure evokes a whale’s blowhole and water vapour plume. From this raised position, one can look out over the entire compound (which is still under construction) and appreciate the landscaping and water elements that unfold around them.
More than a whimsical visual landmark, Whale Gate was conceived as a “small spatial allegory embedded within an ordinary residential development — a mythological fragment inserted into the realities of contemporary urban life.”
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