Exiting from the elevator, visitors go ‘through the looking-glass’, stepping inside HOPE DESIGN’s imaginatively crafted, multi-layered venue that seems to fuse Chengdu’s urban fabric with the natural world. Left exposed, the building’s concrete structure is intertwined with pipes, steel stairs, and railings, conceived as a representation of the frenzied cityscape, while sand, stone and water elements alongside verdant plants add a soothing natural component to the overall scheme. The mix of natural and manmade materials such as natural stone and red sandstone, combined with cement and metal comprise a rugged canvas that the vegetation unexpectedly encroaches, imbuing the space with wonderment that begs to be explored.