“Through tangible construction, the installation responds to nature’s intangible imagery—opening a space where the city can breathe. It begins with the resilience of bamboo and lands in the field of embodied human experience.”
In Chengdu, time moves unhurriedly. The city’s deepest connection with public life plays out in alleyway teahouses—between bamboo chairs and square tables—where presence is shared, not performed. Bamboo, too, grows to this rhythm, threading quietly through fences at the ends of lanes and casting dappled shadows across teahouse floors. It has long softened the city’s edge.
△ 成都文化生活 圖源網(wǎng)絡(luò)
△ Chengdu Cultural Life Image source: Internet
When the measured breath of such spaces meets the intensity of urban life—dense, fast, and unrelenting—how might architecture restore a sense of breeze and bodily coolness to the city’s overheated skin? In meteorological terms, a level-5 breeze—known as a “gentle breeze”—blows at just enough force (8.0–10.8 m/s) to make the treetops nod. In that early May stillness, “Climacool Teahouse” was conceived as a spatial reply—one that could make the microclimate felt.
In May 2025, at Chengdu’s Taikoo Li, line+ co-founder and chief architect Zhu Peidong, joined forces with adidas and ZERO to launch a time-limited installation challenge at Chengdu Taikoo Li. Crafting bamboo as both medium and message, the project unfolded between the relaxed rhythm of a teahouse and the performative energy of a pop-up gallery. Framed by the core experiences of coolness, breath, and flow, the installation became a spatial experiment in sensory shifts.
從“漂浮”的想象,到“竹構(gòu)”的落點
From a Floating Vision to a Bamboo Reality
The idea began with an image of wind—its form, its lightness. Wind brings coolness, and depending on its strength, carries things in suspension. Inspired by Cloudy Peaks—line+’s earlier ring that floated above tea fields in Xiayanbei—the team envisioned a similar airborne structure above Taikoo Li. It would hover as if held aloft by invisible currents.
The aim was to reawaken the presence of breeze within Chengdu’s humid May air—guiding people to sense wind again through space. In this momentary construct, coolness and clarity would become visible, tangible, and architectural.
But large airborne structures were not permitted in crowded urban plazas under local safety codes. Facing tight timelines, the team quickly grounded the vision—replacing flight with forest. At the center now stood a living grove of bamboo, beneath a vast LED “ice ring” reimagined from the imagery of drifting wind. Suspended like a halo above the canopy, this luminous form—shaped by digital means—recalled the sensation of air in motion across the sky.
And so, bamboo returned to the center of the narrative. In Chengdu, bamboo is never just a building material—it’s a living threshold, a vessel of breath, a quiet anchor between body and environment. It absorbs the tempo of the city’s easy pace and gives it spatial form. Here, in Climacool Teahouse bamboo ceases to be metaphor and becomes mechanism—an atmospheric architecture woven from rhythm, structure, and climate.
The bamboo strips translate the idea of breeze into a tactile visual rhythm. Fresh bamboo lines the wall in tight, continuous rows, merging seamlessly with the ground to form a single surface. Above, the suspended ice ring hovers between movement and stillness, opacity and lightness. Floating above, anchored below, the space opens in vertical tension—at once grounded and weightless, fleeting and held—like the breeze itself.
△ 墻身結(jié)構(gòu)分析
△ Wall Section Analysis
竹構(gòu)四重奏:順勢、織構(gòu)、溫度與呼吸
The Bamboo Quartet: Flow, Fabric, Temperature, and Breath
·Bamboo Grove
Lightweight, flexible, and fast to build, bamboo was the ideal medium for this instant pavilion. At its center, two concentric rings form stacked cylindrical volumes—grounded below, tensioned above—supporting a two-ton floating ice ring.
△ 中心筒狀結(jié)構(gòu)
△ Central Cylindrical Structure
△ 在工廠進行鋼結(jié)構(gòu)搭建和燈光測試
△ Steel Structure Assembly and Lighting Test Conducted in Factory
The grove is made from fresh, leafy bamboo. Each stalk is bent radially from the light canopy structure and quickly fixed to the wind-sensing core. Clusters of bamboo leaves hang gently overhead, enclosing a soft, vertical forest. Rooted in the stone plaza, this living grove becomes the spatial and sensory heart of the teahouse.
·Bamboo Strips
The perimeter wall defines the site boundary while concealing all MEP systems within its depth. Floor and wall are unified through a continuous weave of bamboo—bending fluidly from vertical to horizontal, forming a seamless surface. On the exterior, the bamboo wall extends into prefabricated benches, softening the boundary and opening the structure toward the city. This outward gesture invites passersby at Taikoo Li to pause, rest, and engage—encouraging everyday interaction between the installation and urban life.
·Bamboo Sticks
All tables and chairs were handcrafted by local artisans using raw bamboo, joining vernacular craftsmanship with contemporary spatial design. These everyday objects reactivated the laid-back spirit of Chengdu teahouses through a quiet dialogue between material and place.
When the local craftsmen fell behind schedule, the design team stepped in—trading their roles as architects for bamboo weavers. Daytime restrictions compressed the five-day build window to 50 work hours. Working through sudden downpours and material delays, the team delivered the installation on time with remarkable precision and resolve.
△ 在成都近郊山村完成竹質(zhì)構(gòu)件的預制作
△ Prefabrication of Bamboo Components Completed in a Mountain Village near Chengdu
·Bamboo Resonance
The experience of bamboo goes beyond the visual—we aimed to recreate the immersive coolness of Chengdu’s bamboo groves. Dry ice and air curtains, embedded within the four corners, quietly introduced a sense of chill into the interior.Two misting systems were deployed: one beneath the central ring, spraying vapor into the bamboo interior to create a distinctly cooler microclimate; the other tucked beneath the outer benches, releasing mist outward to gently engage passersby and offer moments of relief around the plaza.
To echo the theme of the brand’s new Climacool running shoe, the team was asked to create a level-5 breeze effect at the center of the installation—an upward airflow paired with the outward rhythm of a bamboo grove, producing a perceptible sensation of coolness. We explored wind turbines, centrifugal blowers, even the possibility of indoor skyping systems. In the end, a low-tech solution proved most effective: twelve fans linked to a unified control circuit, activated and modulated at set intervals. As visitors entered the central ring wearing the new shoes, a breathable breeze rose from beneath their feet—turning coolness into something tactile.
Coolness and clarity are not surface impressions but the outcome of structural and material choreography. Wind, mist, and shifting light pass through the grove; the body perceives them all, from sight to skin. Bamboo becomes a language between the senses and space.
△ 中心筒狀結(jié)構(gòu)
△ Central Cylindrical Structure
從臨時裝置,到城市共生
From Temporary Installation to Urban Coexistence
Bamboo benches, designed as modular units and integrated into the woven wall, offered places of rest for those queuing or passing through the plaza. They shaped soft boundaries—guiding flow while inviting pause.
Given the compact site, the benches were installed last: prefabricated and slotted into the completed wall, streamlining construction and ensuring flexibility on site.
△ 在太古里現(xiàn)場完成搭建安裝
△ Central Structure Installed On-site at Taikoo Li
△ 五一節(jié)假日期間,為市民游客提供了一處休憩空間
△ During the May Day Holiday, the Pavilion Served as a Resting Space for Citizens and Visitors
More importantly, once the pavilion was dismantled days later, the benches did not disappear. Like bamboo itself—resilient and adaptable—they were relocated across the city: to corners, parks, and neighborhood streets, continuing to serve everyday life. From temporary to continuous, the installation lives on—not as a structure, but as a quiet extension of the city’s fabric.
Climacool Teahouse was never meant to last. And yet, the spatial rhythm it stirred—the quiet ease it invited—lingers long after its structure is gone. With the lightest of gestures, we tried to craft a place where the city might pause to breathe.
This is part of line+’s ongoing inquiry: how can architecture intervene without insisting, become present without permanence? In Cloudy Peaks, we lifted the rural horizon with a ring that floated just above the land. In Climacool Teahouse , we carved a different rhythm into the density of the city. Structures may dissolve, materials be disassembled—but the bodily memory of lightness, of freedom, remains. It settles quietly into the city’s subconscious, living on through experience.