orproject: ban pavilion at beijing design week

‘ban pavilion’ by orprojects for the 2012 beijing design week, china image © jasper james and orproject

‘ban,’ the chinese word for ‘leaf,’ drives the concept for the pavilion designed by international firm orproject for the 2012 beijing design week. hundreds of bent transparent polymer sheets are connected at simple nut-and-bolt nodes that create a self-supporting structure. extensive research into anisotropic sheet morphologies produced an understanding of directional structural strength applied to the connection of a individual uni-directional, almost two-dimensional components that seems to hover lightly in the sky, only touching ground at three columns that define a vaulted space. the transparency of the material property focuses the viewers attention to the sky, strengthening the floral character of the installation. 

images © jasper james and orproject

image © jasper james and orproject

transparency focuses views to the sky image © jasper james and orproject

image © jasper james and orproject

image © jasper james and orproject

image © jasper james and orproject

(left) looking up through the space (right) simple connecting nodes images © jasper james and orproject