Inspired by the landscape design concept of “Forest School”, the Four-Roof Pavilion is intended to be embedded and merged into the park. Much like the greenhouse typology, the Four-Roof Pavilion is a building of the park.

Located at the north corner of Pingshan Children’s Park in Shenzhen, the Pavilion serves as a secondary gateway to the Children’s Park. The 3-story, 1,200 m² structure provides a pedestrian passageway, multi-purpose rooms, bookstore, cafe, & roof garden. 

A passageway on the ground floor allows visitors to enter via a single-story space leading them to a double-height space with an oculus skylight above. The “press and release” sequence serves as a gateway to the park. The void not only lets visitors pass through the building, but also seconds as a social corridor for seating & conversation. 

A simple cast-in-place concrete structural grid is designed with two steel roofs on the south and north facades and two concrete roofs on the outdoor garden. The color palette loosely references 11th-century Chinese landscape painting, unifying the columns, beams, & diagonal bracing. The two sculptural red stairs are embedded within the structural grid, visibly highlighting the vertical circulation. 

The massive roofs define the architectural identity while providing generous shading and covered space for the local community. Levels of transparency are created by the strategic placement of clear polycarbonate panels, perforated metal panels, & solid metal panels. The diamond and triangle pattern filter the natural light while introducing ambient light into the interior space. The architectural elements blur the building boundary and extend the architectural impact on both the exterior and interior, merging the relationship between architecture, landscape, and people.

in collaboration with Schneider Luescher