Three Pavilions Garden

THREE PAVILIONS GARDEN

Hang Wang

Three Pavilions Garden
The courtyard of the co-sitting pavilion at night. Image © Zenglei Chi

ARCHITECTS
Hang Wang

DESIGN TEAM
Hang Wang, Yang Ding, Jieqi Ge

ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Hang Wang

PHOTOGRAPHS
Zenglei Chi

AREA
305 m²

YEAR
2018

LOCATION
Beijing, China

CATEGORY
Installations & Structures

Three Pavilions Garden
Overview. Image © Zenglei Chi

Text description provided by architect.

PREFACE

The site was originally a roofing platform on the entrance canopy of the building, which could be used but was rarely visited until the college decided to renovate in 2018 to provide a place for students and faculty to relax and rest.

VISION

The main challenge of this project is how to meet the requirements of providing leisure and greenery space at a 300 square meter platform.

Three Pavilions Garden
Comparison before and after renovation. Image © Zenglei Chi
Three Pavilions Garden
Huge viewfinder across ten meters. Image © Zenglei Chi

We persuaded the client not to build classical pavilions and proposed an abstract garden approach that could be visited, liveable and enjoyable.

RESPONDING TO THE SITE

The platform has an acute triangular shape and is 8 meters above the ground. In order to provide a better walking experience, we firstly flatten the floor with the anti-corrosion wood.

Three Pavilions Garden
A hole that obscures sight. Image © Zenglei Chi
Three Pavilions Garden
Huge viewfinder across ten meters. Image © Zenglei Chi

Based on its triangular shape of the site, we scale out three similar triangular pavilions similar to its layout and enclose an inner courtyard.

The pavilion is constructed with white steel plate outside a steel structure frame. The design abstractly expresses the intention of the traditional classical garden under the restriction of cost and load.

Three Pavilions Garden
Looking at the co- sitting pavilion from exquisite pavilion. Image © Zenglei Chi
Three Pavilions Garden
The Exquisite Pavilion. Image © Zenglei Chi

THREE PAVILIONS GARDEN

As a small-scale leisure project, the Jichang Garden in Wuxi provides a roaming path starting with a narrow entrance -- the stone stream built by yellowstone, then transitions to the open water. The contrast makes the water looks large even though the overall space is small.

We hope that the experience of the Three Pavilions Garden is also rich and interesting, which is first restrained and then enhanced. From Exquisite Pavilion to Cloud-rising Pavilion, the scale from small to large, the space from closed to open, the line of sight from being restricted to suddenly clear.

Three Pavilions Garden
Huge viewfinder across ten meters. Image © Zenglei Chi
Three Pavilions Garden
The courtyard of the co-sitting pavilion at night. Image © Zenglei Chi

The Exquisite Pavilion is the nearest to the entrance and exit of the platform, which is convenient for students to drop in and chat with a cigarette.

According to the experimental data of ergonomics, we provide two heights suitable for the natural drooping arm and the elbow against the smoking table, satisfying the smoking habit of different people.

Three Pavilions Garden
The courtyard of the co-sitting pavilion at night. Image © Zenglei Chi
Three Pavilions Garden
The courtyard of the co-sitting pavilion at night. Image © Zenglei Chi

The pavilion that opens to the inner courtyard is the Co-sitting Pavilion. In the pavilion, people could sit around, relax, talk and have a rest. The pavilion is eight meters wide and has a relatively wide scope of vision.

The scenery of the atrium and courtyard can be seen from the pavilion. However, due to the occlusion of the other two pavilions, the complete composition of the distant landscape could not be obtained, but was cut into several fragments.

Three Pavilions Garden
Three Pavilions Garden plan
Three Pavilions Garden
Three Pavilions Garden expanded view

Cloud-Rising Pavilion is named from a Tang dynasty poem by Wang Wei. It is the end of the roaming path and the highest pavilion. The opening on the west side of the pavilion is ten meters wide in order to borrow the lush greenery outside the garden.

The landscape design continues the winding logic of the garden, elongating the walking distance in the limited space, and enriching the sensory experience.

Three Pavilions Garden
Layout generation logic
Three Pavilions Garden
Three Pavilions Garden map

The Three Pavilions Garden project gave us an opportunity to express our understanding of the leisure places, and we hope that the spatial experience of transformation between traditional and modern can meet the expectation of the college's teachers and students.