Iwan Baan
Circular bench seating around central stage
Category: Bond
Honorable Mention
Conceived as part of the Masadi Art Festival—an event funded by Taiwan’s Forestry Bureau to raise public awareness of a new-growth forest threatened by development—Forest Pavilion is a shaded meeting and performance space for visitors to the Da Nong Da Fu Forest and Eco-Park in Hualien. Designed by Brooklyn, N.Y.–based nArchitects, the temporary pavilion is composed of 11 vaults constructed from freshly cut bamboo, organized in two rings around a small outdoor theater, with a loop of wood decking serving as seating or a circular stage.
While juror Raymund Ryan appreciated the thoughtful design process that went through several iterations before settling on its final form, he and the other jurors hoped to acknowledge the project’s recognition and inclusion of the province’s aboriginal Amis tribe. Masters of bamboo construction, the Amis fabricated bamboo for the project and became personally invested in the completion of the pavilion. “It’s not an expensive project, but it’s something that can give communities a certain sense of self-respect,” Ryan says.
Forest Pavilion, Guangfu, Hualien, Taiwan
Curator and Client Artfield, for the Forestry Bureau of Taiwan—Huichen Wu
Architect nArchitects, Brooklyn, N.Y.—Eric Bunge, AIA, Mimi Hoang (principals); Ammr Vandal (project architect); Julia Chapman, Tiago Barros, Jack Hudspith, Alana Flick (design team)
Project Management Consultant Frankie Su
Structural Engineer Yan Shi-Feng
Bamboo Fabricator Amis tribe (aboriginal Taiwanese people)
Size 300 square meters (3,229 square feet)
Cost $20.89 per square foot
Photograph Iwan Baan
