A Wide Span and Lightweight Modern Pavilion above the Water Surface

The Thin-shell Metal Woven Pavilion by XISUI Design is designed to provide urban dwellers with a tranquil space for contemplation, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. It fosters an atmosphere that promotes meditation and inner peace. It is situated over a pool, serving as a resting place that offers shelter from wind and sun, while still inviting natural light to penetrate its interior.

Matt brown-gold walls create a cave-like interior, immersing visitors in a calm state.
Photo credit: Photo by Yihao Hu, XISUI Design

This pavilion introduces a novel approach to digital metal construction. Its segmented metal shell is inspired by the bionic weaving appearance of birds' nests, and the structural principles of arched force transmission found in eggshells, which the team has studied in depth.

A pavilion rests on the water's surface.
Photo credit: Photo by Yihao Hu, XISUI Design

Integrated Structural Skin – the Shell Works as Structure

Typically, a pavilion with an 11x8 meter span requires a substantial supporting framework. This project challenges that convention with a keel-free design, realized through a doubly curved structure that uses only a thin shell surface for load-bearing. As an effective structural form, the shell efficiently distributes loads, utilizing principles similar to ancient vaulted buildings and natural bird eggshells. This design ensures both stability and efficiency, minimizing material usage while maintaining the pavilion's aesthetic integrity and elegance.

An eggshell-like form shelters from wind and sun, while still inviting natural light to enter its interior.
Photo credit: Photo by Yihao Hu, XISUI Design

White exterior reflects on water, offering serenity and purity.
Photo credit: Photo by Yihao Hu, XISUI Design

The centripetal dome and pool evoke a sense of being enveloped by mountains and the sea, featuring amplifying acoustics that foster introspection and reflection.
Photo credit: Photo by Yihao Hu, XISUI Design

Easy-to-build Digital Construction

The entire hyperboloid structure is divided into 469 bespoke metal segments of varying sizes. Through the digital design and fabrication process, these segments are specifically designed to precisely fit together, ensuring easier and more efficient processing. The pavilion features welding-free construction, with all shell segments pre-fabricated using CNC machinery, numbered and then delivered to the site for precise assembly. By employing this integrative digital approach, labor costs are reduced, and the caliber of craftsmanship is elevated, ensuring the doubly curved geometry boasts a visually fluid and gentle appearance.

From a distance, the pavilion harmonizes with its surroundings during the day.
Photo credit: Photo by Yihao Hu, XISUI Design

Visitors descend along a sunken path beneath the water's surface, leading to the Thin-shell Metal Woven Pavilion, where a serene and immersive experience awaits.
Photo credit: Photo by Fancy Images

The Thin-shell Metal Woven Pavilion gracefully spans 11 meters over the reflective pool surface.
Photo credit: Photo by Fancy Images

Assembly and Flexibility

During construction, traditional manual welding techniques were replaced with the use of bolts for point-to-point alignment and high-precision milling. This technique was adopted to complete the entire construction process, encompassing everything from the assembly of the foundation to the main body of the structure. The advantage of this approach is that each removable bolt is digitally designed and verified to ensure the accuracy of the final form. This prevents the form-finding errors that commonly arise in traditional manual manufacturing, such as cumulative errors from manual positioning and welding heat-induced deformation of thin plates. Furthermore, this method imparts flexibility to the pavilion, allowing for easy replacement of components, or even relocation of the entire structure.

A space encourages meditation and inner peace.
Photo credit: Photo by Yihao Hu, XISUI Design

Sunlight and shifting clouds create a dynamic play of light and shadow through the skylight, adding a temporal dimension to the space.
Photo credit: Photo by Jia Liu

Tiny openings embedded in the woven gaps allow light to penetrate, creating a luminous array that forms dynamic patterns reflecting the dome's rotating structural lines. Gazing upwards, it resembles the flowing river of stars.
Photo credit: Photo by Fancy Images

Immersive Experience

Visitors are guided along a sunken passage below the pool to the Thin-shell Metal Woven Pavilion, which helps them to relax and enjoy themselves beneath the water surface. This secluded path provides partially open and private spaces, enriching the sensory experience and stimulating visitors' imagination of nature, heightening anticipation before they enter the pavilion.

At night, the Thin-shell Metal Woven Pavilion and its reflection shimmer on the water.
Photo credit: Photo by Fancy Images

The exterior, painted in white, reflects on the water's surface, creating a serene and pure aesthetic. The interior, with its matt brown-gold walls, reduces light reflection and immerses visitors in an experience as if exploring a deep cave, leading them to a state of calm. Inside, the centripetal dome and surrounding pool evoke a sensation of being enveloped by mountains and the sea. The dome's acoustics amplify normal speaking volumes, providing an environment conducive to introspection and reflection.

XISUI Design

XISUI Design, established in Shanghai in 2018, is a multidisciplinary team comprising landscape architects, architects, installation artists, structural engineers, and digital engineers. XISUI Design offers design solutions, strategic planning, and construction guidance. XISUI Design's built works encompass landscape design, children's playgrounds, landscape installations and structures, and commercial space design.