algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa

bio-resin was poured, splattered, and flung onto the floor, left to settle naturally, and then suspended atop slender custom steel columns.

Neal L Hitch edited by christina vergopoulou August 13, 2025 4 min

Free-Form Puddle Pavilion Captures Fluid Motion

The Puddle Pavilion by i/thee is a free-form canopy made from algae-based bio-resin cast directly on the ground with no formwork. The installation was sculpted through an additive process that the design team, led by Neal Lucas Hitch, refers to as Action Architecture. During construction, algae-based resin was poured, splattered, and flung onto the floor, left to settle naturally according to the principles of fluid dynamics, and then suspended atop slender custom steel columns to hover above Mud Creek in Bondurant, Iowa, outside Des Moines. The pavilion appears as a solidified resin river, or puddle, frozen in time, an abstract expressionist painting liberated from the canvas.

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 1 — all images courtesy of i/thee

i/thee’s canopy fuses with the Landscape

The Puddle Pavilion is the second piece of infrastructure in an ongoing art implementation masterplan that studio i/thee has designed for the City of Bondurant, Iowa, following The Dining Room (2024), a set of intentionally eroded rammed-earth walls, and preceding The Garden (2026), a meandering fractal boardwalk. Serving as a canopy at the Eagle Park entrance to Mud Creek, the work invites visitors to linger and engage more deeply with the local ecology of the site. ‘With the Puddle Pavilion, we were interested in achieving formal literalism. Where other architects and artists have sought to create works ‘like’ or ‘as’ a flowing river, we aimed to sculpt a piece by literally capturing the ephemeral beauty of moving liquid frozen in time. The Puddle Pavilion is not a metaphor: it is not like a puddle, but rather it is a puddle, made by carefully poured layers of algae-based resin, left to find their own forms under the influence of natural forces such as gravity, surface tension, and fluid dynamics, as well as environmental variables including temperature and wind speed,’ shares designer Neal Lucas Hitch.

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 2 — custom-fabricated joints connect the resin canopy to stainless steel columns

Abstract Realism in Resin and Steel

Tapping into the intrinsic beauty of natural phenomena, the installation embodies what we refer to as the oxymoron, Abstract Realism: abstract in the sense of being non-figurative and non-compositional; realist in the sense of being non-representational and non-symbolic, sculpted in participation with natural forces. ‘Here, art, architecture, is not a static object imposed top down by architects issuing plans, but a dynamic dance in which design is conceived as a negotiation, through the participation of architects, builders, and the natural environment working together in symbiosis,’ concludes i/thee’s lead designer.

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 3 — the free-form canopy casts shade for visitors below

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 4 — a solidified river of resin floats over the park landscape

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 5 — sunlight filters through the edges of the semi-transparent resin

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 6 — resin forms appear to merge with the surrounding sky and clouds

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 7 — the sky is visible through openings in the resin canopy

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 8 — resin was poured directly on the ground with no formwork and left to find its own form

puddle-pavilion-i-thee-neal-lucas-hitch-iowa-designboom-1800-2 — resin poured, splattered, and flung in an additive process

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 9 — the canopy is lofted above the site on slender stainless steel supports

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 10 — the pavilion frames the entry stair to Mud Creek in Iowa

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 11 — the form of the canopy echoes the natural currents of the adjacent creek

puddle-pavilion-i-thee-neal-lucas-hitch-iowa-designboom-1800-3 — a puddle of algae-based bio-resin hovers above Mud Creek

algae-based bio-resin puddle pavilion by i/thee hovers above mud creek in iowa - 12 — algae-based bio-resin was cast with no formwork to create the hovering free-form surface

project info:

name: Puddle Pavilion

designer: i/thee | @i____thee

design team: Neal Lucas Hitch, Kristina Fisher, Martin Hitch

location: Bondurant, Iowa, US

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