HEXI BEAST
A slice of time and geography
When we think of Dunhuang, what comes first to mind?
The Silk Road stretching into the distance? The sanctuaries of the Mogao Caves? The rustling winds of the sand dunes at Mingsha Mountain, or the scattered starlight beyond the Western Pass?
We were commissioned to design a 30-square-meter micro tea space for “Hexi Beast.” Rather than reproducing the cultural icons of the Silk Road, the project turns toward an abstract translation of the natural geography of the Hexi Corridor. We attempt to compress layered Yardang ridges, the rough textures of the Gobi Desert, meteor streaks across night skies, and the little creatures that appear at dusk along water edges into a space that can be “tasted.”
The boundary of the space begins with slanted walls. The enclosure wall of the back kitchen is slightly tilted, as if a mountain has gently turned its body, defining the separation between ordering and seating areas. Drawing from the erosional lines of Yardang formations, layered rammed earth is used to create a surface that is both rough and warm. Afternoon sunlight arrives as expected, casting shifting bands of light across the earthen surface.
The spatial texture of the space is conceived as a mirage of water. Locally sourced stone is used for the counter, floor steps, and gravel ground, giving the space a raw geological touch. Linear stainless-steel lights descend like silent strands of night sky. Mirror-polished stainless steel is embedded within the gravel floor, winding like tributaries of Crescent Lake. Within the weight of stone, pockets of liquid-like light are carved out. When guests look down, sky, light, and their own reflections fracture into scattered points—like starlight breaking apart in a sudden desert rain. Along this water-like edge, invisible small creatures are implied rather than show—- their passage suggested only by subtle disturbances left behind.
The soul of the space lies in the presence of the beasts by absence. No figurative animal sculpture is introduced. Instead, embedded claw marks in the wall, the natural movement of light and shadow, and the shifting reflections of the water collectively evoke an emergent sense of animacy—where the beast is never depicted, yet always present.
Though only 30 square meters, the space contains an entire dusk of the Hexi Corridor. When sandy rammed earth meets the shimmering surface of stainless steel, and ancient geological memory encounters contemporary geometry, the space becomes more than a functional stop—it becomes a temporal cross-section of time and geography.
Here, every sip carries wind, light, and a trace of untamed desert life. May the quiet oasis of clarity and poetry encounters every traveler arriving from afar.
Status
2026.05 Built
Location
Dunhuang, Gansu, China
Size
30sqm
Client
Hexi Beast
Team
Shiqing Liu, Yang Liu, Kaifu Chung
