Type | Art Installation

Architect | Huang Mingjian / Co-founder and Principal Architect of MOMENTUM Architects

Project Installation | Hangzhou Bangbo Technology

Completion Year | 2023

"Zhushan" (Bamboo Mountain) was created to shape the landmark image of the entrance to Huanghu Town, with its bamboo structure designed by Chinese-American architect Huang Mingjian.

Huang Mingjian is a registered architect with the California Architects Board, a Doctor of Architecture, and a graduate of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Harvard Graduate School of Design, and China Academy of Art. He studied under Mr. Wang Shu, winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Huanghu Town is rich in bamboo resources. The original plan for constructing "Zhushan" was to use real bamboo. However, considering that "Zhushan" is a public building, which would be unfavorable for later maintenance and difficult for fire prevention and flame retardancy, it was later changed to aluminum alloy with bamboo grain transfer printing. Each bamboo imitation is 80mm in diameter with raised bamboo joint effects, restoring the effect of real bamboo.

The designer aims to help bamboo "regain its true self". Traditional bamboo structures are designed and constructed based on the Cartesian grid, i.e., x, y, z coordinates, a method that does not fully utilize bamboo’s inherent characteristic—its bending performance. In the bamboo structure of "Zhushan", every structural line is three-dimensionally curved. On the basis of utilizing bamboo’s characteristics, it is also used as an aesthetic element in the creation, reflecting the agility of bamboo and creating a soft, varied and dynamic space. These three-dimensionally curved bamboo arches echo the sea of clouds and green mountains in Huanghu, creating a picture of mountains standing between heaven and earth.

The design was completed using digital parametric software, forming a structural space that highlights the properties and structural performance of bamboo materials. The entire structure is very light yet extremely tough, capable of withstanding great force; the characteristics of bamboo have been maximized throughout the design and construction process, reflecting the interactive relationship between materials, structure and space.