01 Sep 2017
Studio Zhu-Pei complete gravity-defying garden in Chinese sculpture park
BY Kim Megson
Chinese architecture practice Studio Zhu-Pei have completed work on a ‘hovering’ garden installation in a Chinese sculpture park, which allows visitors to wander the grounds over, under and around huge stacks of plants and flowers.
New images of the project, called Yi Garden II, reveal how an abandoned two-storey concrete frame has been used as the foundation for a seemingly gravity-defying arrangement of greenery in the grounds of Quanzhou National Art Park in the province of Fujian.
Different floral arrangements have been organised into piles of cubes and spread across the park. Gaps in the framework create the illusion that parts of the garden are floating above the ground.
Users of the public space are encouraged to drink tea, enjoy exhibited work by famous artists and rest under the shade of the sculptural forms.
“I tried to interpret a traditional Chinese garden for this contemporary world,” studio founder Zhu Pei told CLADglobal.
“Over time, the landscape will continue to grow, transforming what was a small structure into an increasingly interesting, alive place where people can walk, drink tea, or relax and socialise after work.
“Most of the time in this region it is extremely hot. Walking in this landscape, you feel much cooler because of the micro-climate.
“I tried to recreate the experience of welcoming people to your own garden. So while the frame is very small, it offers different hidden experiences. You can walk through green tunnels, up stairs, onto terraces, under shaded roofs, into pavilions. The people there have embraced it.”
Studio Zhu-Pei are best known for their cultural buildings in China – including the OCT Design Museum in Shenzen, the forthcoming Yang Liping Performing Arts Center in the city of Dali and the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum in Jiangxi province.
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