Bamboo prototype · 2022
Wuxing 无形
Bamboo beyond
its first assembly
A full-scale prototype developed by Weibing Liu with local craftspeople. Wuxing explores bamboo construction through making, dismantling, transport and reassembly, bringing material experiments into a shared process of design and construction.
- Exhibited
- 2022
- Type
- Full-scale bamboo prototype
- Exhibition
- 23rd Triennale Milano
- Lead architect
- Weibing Liu
Concept drawing · Wuxing 无形
A cyclical and
inclusive cosmos
This concept drawing expresses Liu’s reading of Chinese Daoist thought: a cyclical and inclusive view of the cosmos. Dimensions, material notes and a human figure relate this idea to a proposed bamboo structure.
Alongside this artistic premise, Wuxing’s material research explores making with local craftspeople, dismantling, transport and reassembly.
Making · Dismantling · Transport · Reassembly
From prototype
to reassembly
Wuxing considers bamboo construction beyond its first assembly. The project explores a sequence in which making a full-scale prototype leads to questions about taking it apart, moving its components and bringing them together again.
This sequence is part of the research. Work with the material and with local craftspeople connects each question to the practice of building.
Research sequence
Based on the studio’s project description
- 01
Prototype
Develop and assemble the bamboo construction at full scale.
- 02
Dismantling
Explore how the construction can be taken apart.
- 03
Transport
Consider the movement of components between settings.
- 04
Reassembly
Explore how the components can be brought together again.
The project photographs document the prototype, work with makers and bamboo connections.
Collaboration & material knowledge
Working alongside
local craftspeople
Liu developed Wuxing through practical experiments with local craftspeople. Their collaboration brings knowledge of bamboo into the design process, from developing the prototype to adjusting its curved components together.
Making at full scale keeps the architectural inquiry close to the people who handle, shape and assemble the material.
Structure & connections
Where components
meet
The prototype brings straight bamboo members, curved components and their connections together at the scale of construction.
Working at full scale allows the form of the structure and its individual connections to be examined together, through direct work with bamboo.
Circularity & continuity
Beyond a single
assembly
The concept sketch brings cycles and inclusion into Liu’s artistic inquiry. Wuxing’s construction research explores the continued use of bamboo components beyond a first assembly, through work with local craftspeople.
Dismantling, transport and reassembly form the project’s research sequence. The prototype was exhibited at the 23rd Triennale Milano in 2022.
Circularity across the practiceProject credits
- Lead architect
- Weibing Liu
- Design practice
- Sichuan David Architectural Design
- Exhibition
- 23rd Triennale Milano · 2022
Concept sketch: Weibing Liu. Photography: Weibing Liu and Jiachong Tu. Additional images: studio project archive. Research sequence based on the studio’s project description.
Selected projects · 2009–2022
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
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