breathable pavilion is nestled within lush children's park in shenzhen, china

four-roof pavilion at the Children’s Park in Shenzhen

Four-Roof Pavilion is a vivid three-story structure that invites young and old to come closer to their families, friends, and nature. Conceived by the architectural studios Found Projects and Schneider Luescher, the project emerges as a ‘secondary gateway’ to the Children’s Park in Shenzhen, China, and becomes an integral part of it. The design team was inspired by the landscape design concept of ‘Forest School’, a unique environmental education system that uses nature as a primary tool for learning.

The space engages visitors to spend more quality time in the great outdoors, and escape from the bustling city. Its greenhouse-like silhouette with a pastel blue-green hue allows it to blend in and merge into the lush surroundings. Occupying 1,200 sqm, the pavilion houses a pedestrian passageway, multi-purpose rooms, a bookstore, a cafe, and a roof garden.

all images by Schran Image

a lively social space open to the local community

A single-story space welcomes guests in, leading them into a double-height room with an oculus skylight above.

This alternation of spaces promotes the public pavilion as a social and cultural hub for children and adults. An open corridor crosses the ground level, letting visitors pass through the building, and also doubles as a social passage for seating and 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 of the blue-green pastel references the 11th-century Chinese landscape painting, unifying the columns, beams, and diagonal bracing. Two sculptural red staircases rise as centerpieces and create a pleasing juxtaposition with the otherwise muted structure. Embedded within the structural grid, they visibly accentuate the vertical circulation.

The massive roofs characterize its architectural identity while providing generous shading and covered space for the local community. The architects opted for clear polycarbonate panels and perforated metal and solid surfaces, in order to infuse levels of transparency and openness. The diamond and triangle pattern filters the natural light while introducing well-lit interior areas. The entire public space is thus transformed into a luminous beacon for the region. The team sought to blur the boundaries between the natural and built environments and fuse the relationship between architecture, landscape, and people.

the Four-Roof Pavilion becomes part of the park