Songyang County is well-known for its scenic landscape and over one hundred ancient villages in southwest Zhejiang Province, China. Damushan tea field is a major tourist attraction in Songyang with a number of villages residing in. A series of public spaces and facilities were required to be built in Damushan area to serve the leisure purposes of local villagers, tea farmers as well as tourists.
The Bamboo Pavilion starts with the intention of creating a series of pavilions and platforms that not only meets different functional purposes, but also respects and responds to local village context and ecological environment of the tea fields. The project utilizes two different plan sizes to accommodate various activities requirements, 6.6x6.6m (21.6’x21.6’) and 5.1x5.1m (16.7’x16.7’). The pitched roofs, angled individually at 30°, 45° and 60°, respond to local mountain ranges like floating villages.
The use of locally sourced bamboo as construction materials creates a light structure that is easy for handling and assembling. An integrated structure of roof and wall system is made from local bamboos with diameters 100mm-120mm (4-4.7”). The bamboo beams on roofs form a structural triangle system at the four corners of each square units, which is stable enough to support roofs across 5.1m(16.7’) and 6.6m(21.6’) platforms. At the top of the roof, the four sloping roof panels come together to form a square-shaped skylight. The arrangement of the bamboo columns are determined by the structural pressure and tension analysis, with an arrangement of density gradient.
Roof grid system utilizes 40-50mm (1.5-2”) diameter thin bamboos which differentiate the roof from periphery structure and respond to the linear arrangement of the tea fields.
The raised platforms with bamboo pavement undulate upon and below the tea field, create open and semi-open public spaces within tea fields.
The project could serve as a prototype to introduce new public area and facilities to Damushan Tea Fields.
Total cost: 150,000 RMB ($ 25,000)
Construction Time: 8 weeks.
Project Credits:
Project Title: Bamboo Pavilion ( Songyang County, Zhejiang Province,China)
Owner: Songyang Tourism Development Co. Ltd.
Architecture Design: DnA_Design and Architecture/Xu Tantian
Project Team: Xu Tiantian, Zhang Longxiao, Li Linxin, Hu Mohuai
Construction Team: Bamboo Wood Construction / Xu Chaoran
Design Phase: July 2014 - September 2014
Construction Phase: October 2014 - January 2015
Building Material: Bamboo
Budget: $ 25,000
Photography: Zhou Ruogu/Savoye Photographer
Video: Paper Tiger Theatre Studio