This seamless-looking white structure molded in concrete contains a sinuous library and a block of mixed amenities – cafés, public restrooms, a nursery room, among others – for the citizens of Haikou, capital of Hainan, China’s southernmost province. Located in Century Park, on the shore of Haikou Bay, this work of the firm MAD – with Ma Yansong at the helm – is the first of sixteen pavilions conceived to rejuvenate the port city and generate new public spaces.

The 1,380-square-meter building named Cloudscape presents circular openings that produce a ventilation effect, bring in natural light, and frame views. Giving visual consistency to the complex, the cave-like forms deconstruct the sculptural spaces, where the boundaries between indoors and outdoors blur and concrete is a liquid-looking material that conceals the services.