A rafting center is planned at the head of the Ginkgo Valley creek to facilitate the basic needs of rafting. Budget is their primary concern. Ginkgo Valley is a traditional village and zoned as preserved scenic area a decade ago. The attitude toward the environment is as important and needs to be addressed.
Bamboo, which is widely grown in this preserved scenic area, is used as major construction material to be woven into a huge pavilion for this project. The pavilion is shaped into a gigantic abstract and metaphoric “fish”, curling around and heading toward the creek, bearing a good meaning of prosperity.
A bamboo-strip envelope is adopted acting like a tensile membrane structure. With bamboo’s light weight and mechanical property of excellent bending performance, it is yet a big challenge to pin down and weave bamboo slats into a “bamboo membrane” with such big scale. Vertically tilted bamboo trusses with different curves and sizes, which we call “bamboo bows”, are calculated by parametric software and set every two meters as a frame to support and adjust the shape of the curved surface of the bamboo strip mesh.
This bamboo pavilion establishes its connection with nature. With both ends open, the tunnel like interior space generated by the fish shape of the pavilion allows superior natural ventilation without any additional air conditioning equipment. With birds flying in and out, the openness of this pavilion also proves to be a bird friendly space.
Local farmers with experience of bamboo craftsmanship were hired to work as weaving specialists. They were happy to see the cost of construction and future maintenance well under budget, as well as work opportunities kept local. More importantly, local bamboo craft is passed down in a more practical way through this experimental project.