Begong Island, Wuxi, China
Merging nature and architecture, Wutopia Lab’s Emerald Screen Pergola, in Begong Island, fosters all traditional cultural activities centered around flowers and serving as ia significant symbol in Chinese art.
Its design creates a visual focus that integrates nature with space making it a significant cultural symbol preserved in Chinese paintings.
However, as a temporary structure, most of its elements, except for the flower trellises, have vanished from the remains of classical gardens.
Wutopia Lab uses a feather-like shape of leaves as an original to create various combinations of wall and roof structures along the 1.2-kilometer distance.
The structure is open, close, stand-alone, overlap, and even disappears, redefining the previously monotonous design of the trellis corridor.
The corridor’s structure uses round steel as its framework and is covered with steel meshes painted white for plants to climb.
“Before the plants climb up, it creates a mist-like visual amidst the beautiful scenery,” says the office.
“I decided to design a flower pavilion to serve as both the entrance to the corridor and the park. Similarly, I stacked the white feather-like steel meshes layer by layer to create a central, roofless structure,” he continues.
“This would be my semi-transparent Pantheon. Its completion will also mark the grand reopening of Bogong Island Ecology Park.”
The current phase, featuring the white transparent Emerald Screen Pergola and the flower pavilion, marks the first stage.
The second stage will see plants climbing the corridor to transform it into a green structure. In the third stage, flowers will bloom, with various colors of ivy, jasmine, roses, honeysuckle, roses, and retained wisteria blossoming in succession.
Thus, this vibrant wandering dragon-like structure will come to life, seemingly ready to take flight in its natural surroundings.
This represents Wutopia Lab’s commitment to innovatively modernizing traditional designs using contemporary materials and forms.
Architects: Wutopia Lab
Lead Architect: Yu Ting
Project Architect: Mu Zhilin
Design Team: Fang Xiaobin and An Yingjie
Client: Wuxi Cultural Tourism Development Group Co., Ltd
Photographers: CreatAR lmages