pritzker prize winner wang shu: amateur architecture's 'squarely sphering'

‘squarely sphering’ is a full-scale pavilion prototype by prtizker prize winner wang shu of chinese practice amateur architecture studio, recently on display within the upper plaza in the shenzhen civic center, in china during the 2011 shenzhen & hong kong bi-city biennale of urbanism \ architecture. resting upon the pavement without foundations, the small building is conceived without any anchor to the ground and is constructed with the lightest materials possible. addressing sustainability and the age-old question posed by buckminster fuller to architects: ‘how much does your building weigh’, an efficient framework of short lumber components creates a tubular form, protected with translucent polycarbonate sheets.

this is one element within the ‘ultra-light village’, an open air exhibition curated by terence riley provoking questions of the nature of permanent versus transitory construction in the creation of cities. the collection of structures explores the ideas of five notable architects including croatian firm studio up, spanish practice clavel arquitectos, chinese architect wei chun yu and new york-based practices MOS and OBRA architects.

pavilions within the shenzhen civic square
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entry to ‘squarely sphering’ structure
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bench seating lines the length of the tubular structure
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at night
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curved polycarbonate sheets protect the open air framework from weather
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translucent polycarbonate glows softly with illumination
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short segments of lumber form the small building’s curved tubular form
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image © designboom

rendering of complete village

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elevation