Volcano Visitor Center Centre d'accueil des visiteurs by Haisheng Xu

Volcano Visitor Center Centre d'accueil des visiteurs by Haisheng Xu is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 A' Design Award de Bronze in Design d'Architecture, Bâtiment et Structure Competition Category.

BronzeArchitecture· 2026

Volcano Visitor Center Centre d'accueil des visiteurs

by Haisheng Xu

Client: Studio 0

A' Design Award de Bronze Winner in Architecture Category

5,331

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #182286

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Volcano Visitor Center Centre d'accueil des visiteurs

Le Volcano Visitor Center est un centre d'accueil des visiteurs situé en Islande, qui présente des informations géologiques, historiques et culturelles sur les volcans islandais. Le bâtiment, d'une superficie de 7 300 pieds carrés (environ 678 mètres carrés), s'insère dans le terrain volcanique et relie des espaces souterrains à une toiture sculptée formant un véritable paysage. La palette de matériaux est simple, composée de béton, de métal et de verre, avec une toiture végétalisée conçue pour accueillir la flore locale. Des outils de conception paramétrique ont permis de modeler la forme courbe tout en conservant une géométrie rationnelle. Le parcours de circulation invite les visiteurs à faire l'expérience de l'horizon, du territoire et de la nature.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Bronze

Volcano Visitor Center Centre d'accueil des visiteurs est lauréat de l'A' Design Award de Bronze, une reconnaissance hautement prestigieuse décernée à des designs remarquables qui se distinguent par leur créativité, leur ingéniosité et leur sagacité. Les lauréats Bronze sont des artefacts amplement habiles et d'une créativité frappante, qui authentifient la vaste expérience, l'imagination et l'ingéniosité de leurs concepteurs. Volcano Visitor Center Centre d'accueil des visiteurs est censé être un objet très estimé, admiré et chéri, remarquablement professionnel et innovant. Ce design lauréat de l'A' Design Award de Bronze intègre les meilleures pratiques de l'art, de la science, du design et de la technologie, et est excellent par son souci du détail. Volcano Visitor Center Centre d'accueil des visiteurs satisfait admirablement les besoins, touche les désirs, charme les sentiments et attire la curiosité.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Embedded within the volcanic terrain, the project dissolves the boundary between building and landscape, offering a continuous journey of light, earth, and horizon. By uniting subterranean shelter with sculpted roofscape, it transforms architecture into an environmental mediator that preserves the site while intensifying experience, inviting visitors to inhabit nature not as observers, but as participants in its elemental presence.
Dimensions & Packaging: 7,300 square feet.
Tags: Sustainability, Landscape Architecture, Mobius,Parametric, Curvilinear
Production Technology: The building is intended to use local materials and minimize its impact on the existing landscape. The material palette is kept simple, consisting of concrete, metal, and glass, with a green roof designed to support local plants. Parametric design tools were used to create a dynamic form responding to the organic landscape while maintaining rational geometry and production control. View and lighting analyses were also used to verify the design outcomes.
Design Challenge: The creative challenge was to create a manmade form that responds to the existing landscape and site language without simply mimicking nature. The design philosophy explores how humans, while adapting to nature, interpret and reshape the surrounding environment to achieve a new balance that can sustain human life in a sustainable and long-lasting way.
Research: The research focused on two main aspects. The first examined how volcanic activities have shaped Iceland’s landscape and human activities. It was particularly inspiring to understand how volcanoes and the hidden underground world provide fertile soil and geothermal heat for life, while many human activities and habitats are partially or fully embedded underground. The second aspect studied the geometries and forms generated by volcanic activities.
Inspiration: Iceland’s settlement history is shaped by volcanic forces and the landscapes and energy they generate. The vast horizontal terrain fosters a close relationship between human life and the earth. Inspired by volcanic forms and the mystery of the underground, the design reinforces this connection by integrating surface and subterranean space. It invites visitors to reflect on nature as they experience the expansive horizon.
Project Duration: 2025, Iceland
Operation Flow: The design serves as a tourist center introducing geological, historical, and cultural information about Icelandic volcanoes, showing how volcanic activities have shaped Iceland’s environmental and social landscapes. The concept originates from volcanic terrain, particularly exploring the interface between the ground surface and the underground. Around this interface, the building's circulation guides visitors to experience the horizon, the land, and nature.
Team Members: Haisheng Xu