This pavilion bonds the past and the future

The Shenjia Garden Intangible Heritage Pavilion in Shanghai, China, is a historic garden and building complex in Fengxian, Shanghai. 

It is considered an architectural treasure from the Republic of China era. 

From 2021 to 2025, a modern pavilion was added by the Fengxian District Bureau of Culture & Tourism and the Fengfa Group Nanqiao Source Co., Ltd. 

 It was designed with robotic technology and a parametric brick design. 

The structure was assembled using a design-to-manufacture cycle: The coordinates of the blocks were exported from a parametric model, then integrated into an industrial robotic workflow that pre-assembles the segments off-site.  

The segments were dry-connected on-site without the use of scaffolding, resulting in a 40% reduction in material waste.  

The “brick‑weave” screen façade is optimized for passive cooling, daylight, and structural performance, delivering both innovation and sustainability.   

The interior showcases circulation and environmental performance. It’s a three-story core with a shaded lobby, all made of concrete derived from Bidirectional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO).  

It acts both as the bearing spine and climatic chimney of the structure, featuring folding plates that merge the path of movement with the path of forces.  

The pavilion forges a bridge between heritage and intelligence, tradition and the contemporary. 

Source: Gooood 

Image credit: © Shengliang Su