SPARK Architects Envisions Jianzi Pavilion * Beijing Design Week 2015

SPARK architects highlights the city’s spontaneous and dynamic public spaces with the ‘jianzi box’ pavilion.

During Beijing Design Week 2015, SPARK architects used an empty plot in the baitasi district the international practice will realize the architectural intervention within a historic hutong area — a place where urban interventions engage the community as platforms for interaction and activity.

The pavilion is made from the very materials that inform the everyday life of the area’s vibrant social sector — ‘jianzi’ (毽子), a traditional folk sport dating back to the han dynasty. Players use their bodies to keep a heavily weighted, badminton-like birdie from hitting the ground, in turn transforming any disused space into an impromptu playground.

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The design of the pavilion, SPARK architects reconsiders the usual context of the playful featherball as an architectural material, forming a façade from 15,000 colorful jianzi that extend over a steel frame. A series of swings hanging from the ceiling and ample internal space provide room for movie screenings there, yoga classes, lectures and reading sessions, engaging visitors on both a physical and emotional level.

Upon the project’s completion, all the individual game units will be gifted to the public — an act that aims to carry a piece of the experience with visitors to their own neighborhoods and communities across the world.