City In Sky

It’s dubious to define “City In Sky” as a house or building. Because I regard it as a city belongs to children; it’s also hard to tell “City In Sky” designed by a certain architect, because 39 children, the “kid-architects” demonstrated the design in their minds by sketching and modeling; I’m even not willing to see it as a complete artificiality.

When I was a child, the first time I was standing in the bamboo forest, I began to imagine if there would be an invisible city floating among the bamboo.

So “City In Sky” provides us with the potential possibilities of architecture: 1  Materials and Structures: Can alive bamboo be part of the structure?

3  The way of Construction: Can a building be built by planting? Are the structure elements light enough to allow children to join on-site work?

4  Relationship between Architecture and Nature: Does architecture mean physical creation？Or it  can be another approach of materiality by operating nature？

Jointed and fixed by transverse components, as open-air terraces and playroom for children, the bamboo houses are also part of the whole architectural landscape.

We use natural bamboo as bear loading structure of “City In Sky”. The building is separated into 8 bamboo structural units by 3m*3m standards.

Two “planted” building can be regarded as space prototype of upward cities.

In 2012, 60% global concrete production was contributed by in China, which consumed 42% aluminum material in the world.

Based on the theme of architecture, by allowing children taking part to build the house blending with nature, “City In Sky” makes it more vivid to help children understand the nature, tools, building and even the real life itself.

Those who arrive at Thekla can see little of the city, beyond the plank fences, the sackcloth screens, the scaffoldings, the metal armatures, the wooden catwalks hanging from ropes or supported by sawhorses, the ladders, the trestles.

If you ask "Why is Thekla's construction taking such a long time?" the inhabitants continue hoisting sacks, lowering leaded strings, moving long brushes up and down, as they answer "So that it's destruction cannot begin.

If, dissatisfied with the answers, someone puts his eye to a crack in a fence, he sees cranes pulling up other cranes, scaffoldings that embrace other scaffoldings, beams that prop up other beams. "What meaning does your construction have?" he asks.

"What is the aim of a city under construction unless it is a city?

"We will show it to you as soon as the working day is over; we cannot interrupt our work now," they answer.

One message I texted to Chenfeng from Natur Organic Life recently: someone maintaining the house? Did you water the house?This might be the best way to describe the project.