In llLab?s pavilion for an open-air dance theatre, clusters of living bamboo conceal slender metal supports that prop up lightweight canopies.
PROJECT Bamboo Bamboo, Yangshuo, Guilin, China
DESIGNER llLab
PHOTOS arch-exist photography
As frequent concertgoers know, you?ve scored a double bang for your buck when your show?s opening act turns out to be stellar. If you?re lucky, you could be rocking out even before the headliner enters the stage.
But what happens if the supporting act is a sequence of architectural moves, rather than a band" Can a display of design agility heighten an audience?s pre-show mood and anticipation" If a recent bamboo pavilion designed by part-Canadian design group llLab (pronounced ?el el lab?) is any indication, the answer is a standing ovation. Located on an island bifurcating the Li River in Guilin, China, the project is impossible to ignore. It?s the new grand entry to Impression Sanjie Liu, a huge open-air theatre set in a singular karst landscape with cliffhanging bamboo and river-etched valleys. Composed of a sequence of woven-bamboo canopies and walk-through lanterns, llLab?s pavilion is the first thing you see when you arrive on the island to take in Impression Sanjie Liu?s signature nighttime dance-theatre show. (The group and its show are inspired by the ballads of Sanjie Liu, a songstress from Chinese legends.) llLab?s arrangement draws you in, literally and figuratively, and whether you focus on its details or zoom out to it...