Builded cloud. Flowing Cloud Pavilion by Sou Fujimoto Architects
07/12/2023.
[Zhejiang] China
metalocus, JORGE MARTINEZ
metalocus, JORGE MARTINEZ
Description of project by Sou Fujimoto
“I was very impressed by the village. It was quite beautiful. The weather was mostly cloudy when I visited there, with a bit misty and foggy air surrounding the entire village.”
The design was inspired by the site itself, especially the fog and clouds that diffused over the village. They were like buildings floating in the air, or rather, like roofs connecting nature, buildings, and various sceneries around. The continuing terraced fields created an architectural image and made the whole area very dynamic and vivid. Therefore, we proposed a floating canopy just like a cloud, hugging the landscape and being part of it.
The main part of the building is an open space that will be used for exhibitions, conferences, or art galleries. The canopy starts from the main building and connects all the way down to the riverside, which provides a sense of continuity and lets the building blend in with nature. At the same time, the house floating above the canopy creates a transition between the traditional village and the new construction.
Flowing Cloud Pavilion by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography by Fengyuzhu Camera Team.
The canopy is made of a naturally woven material a very lightweight that provides the whole area with a soft boundary. While distinguishing buildings and natural fields, the canopy creates a view just like a huge courtyard facing the sky. For sure we named the project “Flowing Cloud” from the impression of the environment when we first time visited the site, but it also for the soft shape of the entire canopy.
The ring-shaped canopy creates a space, where it not only gathers people in the main building but also allows people to fully experience the nature around the whole site. This is also why the project is more blurred into the landscape with diverse spaces rather than one box-like house. We look forward to having people come to visit, lingering around the poetic village, walking under the floating canopy, and enjoying the picturesque views of the beautiful nature.
Sou Fujimoto was born in Hokkaido, Japan on August 4, 1971. In 1994 he graduated in architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He established his own architecture studio, the agency Sou Fujimoto Architects, in Tokyo in 2000, and since 2007 a professor at Kyoto University.
He was first noticed in 2005 when he won the prestigious AR – international Architectural Review Awards in the Young architect’s category, a prize that he garnered for three consecutive years, and the Top Prize in 2006.
In 2008, he was invited to jury these very AR Awards. The same year he won the JIA (Japan Institute of Architects) prize and the highest recognition from the World Architecture Festival, in the Private House section. In 2009, the magazine Wallpaper* accorded him their Design Award. Sou Fujimoto published “Primitive Future” in 2008, the year’s best-selling architectural text. His architectural design, consistently searching for new forms and spaces between nature and artifice.
Sou Fujimoto became the youngest architect to design the annual summer pavilion for London’s Serpentine Gallery in 2013, and has won several awards, notably a Golden Lion for the Japan Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale and The Wall Street Journal Architecture Innovator Award in 2014.
Photographer: David Vintiner