Wutopia Lab forms a Whale-Inspired Residential Gate
Whale Gate is the entrance structure designed by Wutopia Lab for Golden Island, a residential development by Jinsha Group in Shangqiu, Henan, China. Positioned within a landscape of water and trees, the gateway appears as a blue biomorphic form emerging from the garden rather than a conventional residential entrance. The project responds to the client’s ambition of creating a sense of transition between everyday urban life and the domestic environment. The residential masterplan is organized as an archipelago-like composition in which buildings are dispersed within a landscape of water and vegetation. Drawing from this setting, architect Yu Ting referenced the imagery of mythical islands found in Chinese cultural narratives, isolated places imagined beyond the boundaries of ordinary reality. The gateway translates this idea into an architectural threshold that marks the passage into the residential community. Central to the project is the abstracted figure of a whale. In maritime myths and legends, whales often occupy a position between the known and unknown worlds. Wutopia Lab reinterprets this symbolism through architecture, transforming the act of returning home into a passage through the ‘eye’ of the whale.
Rather than producing a literal representation, the design reduces the whale to a series of recognizable formal gestures. A vertical golden opening cuts through the blue volume to create the main entrance, while perforated white aluminum panels positioned above evoke water spray and simultaneously function as a canopy. The project embraces symbolic expression as a design strategy, using form and narrative as integral architectural components rather than concealing them behind purely technical or parametric solutions. A viewing platform accessible exclusively to residents is positioned above the gateway and reached via a set of golden stairs. From this elevated point, views extend across the residential landscape of water, trees, and surrounding buildings. The platform reinforces the gateway’s role as a transitional device between the city and the more sheltered environment of the residential compound.
all images by Daily Architectural Photography | LIU Guowei
Double-Curved Aluminum Skin Wraps Whale Gate
Structurally, Whale Gate is composed of a six-layer assembly consisting of a primary steel framework, connection rods, an aluminum substructure, waterproofing layers, double-curved aluminum honeycomb composite panels, and fin-shaped profiles. The completed structure weighs approximately 60 tons and incorporates nearly 4,000 individual components. The project’s complex geometry required extensive customization throughout fabrication and construction. Owing to the varying curvatures and torsional conditions of the form, all steel and aluminum elements were produced as bespoke components. Individual steel columns were divided into between seven and fifteen segments, while nearly 10,000 three-dimensional coordinate points were used to guide assembly and maintain millimeter-level precision.
To realize the double-curved surfaces, the design team at Wutopia Lab selected an aluminum honeycomb composite panel system that combines low weight with structural stability and fabrication flexibility. In total, 1,170 uniquely shaped aluminum panels were manufactured for the project, allowing the whale-like volume to maintain a continuous surface despite its highly customized geometry. The relationship between architecture and narrative extends beyond the physical structure. During the opening ceremony, a red firework was launched from the center of the gateway, momentarily animating the form within the night landscape. The event echoed the project’s broader themes of arrival, transformation, and domestic identity.
Rather than functioning solely as a landmark, Whale Gate operates as a symbolic threshold embedded within a residential development. Through its combination of narrative imagery, engineered geometry, and landscape integration, the project explores how architecture can frame everyday experiences through references to myth, memory, and place.
project info:
name: Whale Gate
architect: Wutopia Lab | @wutopia.lab
location: Henan, China
area: 242 sqm
lead architect: YU Ting
project architect: PAN Dali
preliminary project manager: SUN Liran
preliminary design concept: LI Hao, XIONG Jiaxing, MU Zhilin
client: Jinsha Group
construction drawing consultant: Xuhui Design Co., LTD
construction contractor: Jinsha Group
lighting consultants: Chloe ZHANG, WEI Shiyu
structure consultant: bespoke. Sur-Mesure Engineering Studio
photographer: Daily Architectural Photography | LIU Guowei
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edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom