At Shenzhen’s Universiade Centre, the Dream Glow Pavilion by Daxing Jizi Design stands out as a welcoming landmark within the vast sports and green landscape. Shaped like a cluster of glowing mushrooms, the pavilion blends traditional design elements with modern lighting to create a lively public space for relaxation, gathering, and community life.
Although not originally intended for leisurely use, the central grassy area was already informally treated as a mini-park by locals. The pavilion capitalizes on this organic social behavior, and it introduces a purposeful, cozy structure.
Dream Glow Pavilion: A 360° Experience of Light and Space
The pavilion unfolds as twelve semicircular canopies, arranged in a loose ring to create a fully accessible, open perimeter. A gentle ramp connects the pavilion’s floor level to the surrounding grade, ensuring seamless entry for users with strollers. The structure acts like a magnetic centerpiece, translucent by day and glowing by night, drawing people from all directions into its comforting glow.
At its essence, the form fuses two motifs deep in cultural memory, the graceful bamboo lantern and the whimsical mushroom. Daxing Jizi undertook a thorough study of traditional Chinese bamboo lantern frameworks, reinterpreting their structure into rounded domes that hover above the public space. The effect is twofold. One moment, these lanterns evoke cultural resonance, and from another angle, they playfully mimic natural fungi that might sprout from the grass.
Color is central to the pavilion’s character. Drawing from traditional Chinese aesthetics, the designers chose four distinct shades—turquoise, soft yellow, violet red, and mandarin red.
Draped in translucent matte soft films, the pavilion roofs mimic the texture of handmade paper. This material diffuses sunlight, offering a gentle glow and shade during the day, while harboring enough structural integrity to serve as shelter during rain.
On sunny winter days, the pavilion’s colored filters cast subtle hues over picnickers and sunbathers. The Dream Glow Pavilion is built for gathering; workshops, lawn concerts, and creative markets can be hosted under its glowing skin, turning the installation into a dynamic civic platform.
Exhibition: Glow Shenzhen 2021, Longgang section
Architects: Daxing Jizi Design
Designer: Zeng Zhenwei (with Xie Muxi on the design team)
Photographers: Chao Zhang, Dalian Zhang, and Wei Chen
