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Photo by Xi Chen and Chris King

An Elegant ‘Bamboo Cloud’ Floats Over Manhattan’s Gansevoort Plaza

An architectural pavilion in Gansevoort Plaza, Manhattan, made of woven bamboo.
Photo by Jennifer Trahan. All images © llLab. Architects

Earlier this month, a couple of airy clouds floated over Gansevoort Plaza in Manhattan, although unlike those you’d usually see wafting overhead, these clouds descended a bit closer to Earth. NYCxDESIGN invited Shanghai-based architecture studio llLab. to design a pavilion as part of New York City’s annual architecture festival, Archtober.

llLab. combined form and function in “Bamboo Cloud,” a sculptural oasis in the busy square, highlighting the elegance, strength, and flexibility of the material. The frame, nearly invisible beneath the woven exterior, holds the organic forms aloft above the pavement, “providing a place for spontaneous encounters and gatherings.”

llLab. has worked extensively with bamboo in many of their projects, which you can explore in-depth on the studio’s website and Instagram.

 

An architectural pavilion in Gansevoort Plaza, Manhattan, made of woven bamboo, viewed from above.
Photo by Jennifer Trahan
A detail of an architectural pavilion in Gansevoort Plaza, Manhattan, made of woven bamboo, viewed from above.
Photo by Xi Chen and Chris King
People seated beneath an architectural pavilion in Gansevoort Plaza, Manhattan, made of woven bamboo.
Photo by Xi Chen and Chris King
The Manhattan skyline with a pavilion in Gansevoort Plaza, Manhattan, made of woven bamboo.
Photo by Xi Chen and Chris King
A detail of an architectural pavilion in Gansevoort Plaza, Manhattan, made of woven bamboo.
Photo by Jennifer Trahan

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