NYCxDESIGN Presents Design Pavilion - Bamboo Cloud

Bamboo Cloud‍

Designed by llLab
Lighting design by L'Observatoire International
Meatpacking District’s Gansevoort Plaza
October 12-18, 11am-9pm Daily

Bamboo Cloud by Shanghai-based architecture studio llLab was designed to challenge the traditional applications of bamboo, exploring its potential as an organic, sustainable building construction material, following a similar installation in Guilin in 2020. While still retaining the beauty of a handcrafted basket with its woven structure, the installation breaks the conventional boundaries of the material by boldly showcasing its strength. Composed of bamboo strips woven into a porous surface, the pavilion naturally uses its internal force for form finding and eventually stabilizes as a hollow space, which is structurally resilient with the potential to be used at building-scale. Working in collaboration with world-renowned architectural lighting design firm L’Observatoire International and high efficiency lighting suppliers Nanometer Lighting Color Kinetics, Bamboo Cloud will also be washed aglow with light from below, elevating it to another level of beauty.

“The Bamboo Cloud defines a temporary new space offering visitors a seat under its playful game of light and shadow, to contemplate the beautiful views of the river. Its materiality spreads a golden light,” said Hanxiao Liu, co-founding partner at llLab.

"The idea was to create a sense of floating space at night above the pier in a mysterious way, finding the balance between the bamboo's texture and the sensation of depth and immateriality,” said Hervé Descottes, founding principal at L’Observatoire International.