This Steppe Visitor Center Treats a Volcano as Landscape, Not Landmark - Yanko Design

"On the southern edge of the Xilingol Steppe in northern China, architecture does not arrive as an interruption. It emerges as a continuation of the land itself. The Volcano In Visitor Center by PLAT ASIA is embedded within the geological structure of a C-shaped extinct volcano formed nearly 150,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch. Here, design is guided not by monumentality, but by a careful negotiation with time, terrain, and climate, framing architecture as co-growth rather than construction."

"Completed in December 2025 as part of the first phase of the Baiyinkulun Steppe and Volcano Tourism Resort, the project occupies a rare and expansive geological context. The Baiyinkulun Steppe and Volcano Area is home to 108 volcanoes and lies approximately 380 kilometers north of Tiananmen Square. The surrounding landscape is a mosaic of ecosystems, including wetlands, forests, lakes, open steppe, sandy land, and seasonal snowfields, where environmental fragility and vast scale exist side by side."

On the southern edge of the Xilingol Steppe in northern China, the Volcano In Visitor Center is embedded within a C-shaped extinct volcano formed nearly 150,000 years ago. Completed in December 2025 as part of the first phase of the Baiyinkulun Steppe and Volcano Tourism Resort, the center occupies an expansive geological context within an area of 108 volcanoes about 380 kilometers north of Tiananmen Square. The design follows existing topography with a continuous curved roof and three circular volumes at different elevations. A 274-meter winding corridor links the volumes, guiding visitors around the volcanic ash ring. The building stabilizes a previously excavated, erosion-prone site and limits further landscape impact while supporting ecological recovery.

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