Zaha Hadid Architects has won the international competition to build a cultural district by the harbor in Sanya, a city on the southern tip of Hainan Island, in China. A central axis connects the new district to the existing urban fabric, and divides the cultural premises into two areas: one featuring a performing arts theater and exhibition galleries, and the other a conference center. They converge in a new public square. Echoing the mountainous landscape of inland Hainan, the layered roofs with timber claddings in their undersides present sculptural curves that feather outward as overhangs, crowned with public terraces offering spectacular views of the port.