The project is located in Huaniao Island which is 70km away from Shanghai. The island is full of flowers, grass, and forests, hence the name 'Flower and Birds' Island in Chinese. Because of the scattered blue and white houses on the island, it is also called "Santorini of China". With the rise of tourism, the southern wing of the island has exceeded its capacity. In the future, a passenger terminal will be built on the northern side of the island to divert more than half of the ferries to the north.
The architect studied the time trajectory of the boat schedule and passengers, combined the basic functions of the dock, ticket office, and waiting room with a cafe and experiential art workshop to create a new transportation distribution center. In terms of sensory experience, the starting point of the design is to study the psychology of travelers. The architect hopes that when travelers arrive at the island, they can experience a different feeling from the huge and efficient hub in the city, they can escape the stress of the city and spend relaxing time on the island.
Huaniao Island is also famous for its colonial lighthouse known as "the first lighthouse in the Far East Area". When the new terminal is completed, it will be the 150th anniversary of the lighthouse. Taking this as an opportunity, the architect hopes to abstractly transform the transportation hub into a lighthouse village composed of "ninety-nine new lighthouses" to memorize the history of the old lighthouse. During the busiest summer nights when hundreds of boats anchored off the coast, the light emits from translucent high windows of these buildings and look like a lighthouse. The folding roof shape, in addition to the form, can better cope with the common typhoon climate on the island.