Conceived as a timber structure that references the “raised-beam” system found in traditional Chinese architecture, the Pavilion roof also uses modern technology to create long spans appropriate to the building’s public nature. The roof is covered in shingled panels that reference traditional pottery roof construction, but are reinterpreted as large bamboo leaves that enhance the roof profile while shading the public spaces below. Designed as layered screens, these panels add texture and depth to the Pavilion’s roof and create evocative light and transparency effects below.
Beneath the roof, the building’s ground plane is defined by a landscape of wheat (the “land of hope”) that references China’s agrarian past. This natural landscape transitions seamlessly into an LED multimedia installation in the center that forms the centerpiece of the building’s exhibition program. 

The Pavilion’s full exhibition and cultural offerings are experienced as a sequence of spaces, beginning with an exterior waiting area in the landscape, leading to a themed exhibition space with interactive installations and cultural offerings from different Chinese provinces. After this, visitors are guided up a gently sloped public stair to a panoramic viewing platform above the multimedia installation, after which they are guided into a multimedia space featuring a short film focusing on family reunions during China’s annual Spring Festival. This sequence concludes with visitors stepping outside the building onto a platform above the bamboo roof that enjoys expansive views of the Expo grounds.

YICHEN LU
Studio Link-Arc was founded in 2011 by Yichen Lu in New York City. Prior to focusing on Studio Link-Arc, Yichen Lu was a project manager at Steven Holl Architects, where he was in charge of the firm’s many-award winning projects in China. Yichen Lu is also an associate professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
In 2011, Yichen Lu was nominated as one of the 10 emerging young Chinese architects to provide an urban strategy proposal for the 2011 Chengdu Biennale. Between 2008 and 2010 he worked as a project architect at Gehry Partners, LLP in Los Angeles, where he was responsible for the design of a series of projects, including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.