Once the overall concept of CAVE was established, other design elements for this space that shares the same design language naturally fell into place. We researched the cave itself and cave-related design, and developed design details with functional requirements and the site’s own specific conditions in mind.

The first site constraint (which can also be viewed as a feature) is the lack of natural lighting in the inner space, where they carved out openings on walls throughout the entire space to create indirect lighting sources. A row of small niches was created along the wall of centre gallery, to bring out a candle-lighting ambiance in the space. An irregular peeking window is punctured for visual connection between centre gallery and the side gallery. As for the exit gallery, a row of skylights is designed to guide the visitors out of the cave. Within this CAVE concept, the skylight is given a great vertical depth to simulate the way light penetrates through thick cave walls. By controlling the way light enters, it magnified the experience of being in a cave.

Another feature of the site is the spatial hierarchy. As shown in the elevation, each room is placed on a different level. Since the original civil structure cannot be changed, the team decided to take advantage of the height difference between each space, to highlight the depth and progressive level of a cave. Flooring colour that is continued on steps thrust into the adjacent space thus creating an infiltration gradient between two areas. The curved platform in the centre gallery is in response to the client’s request for an independent merchandise stand.