”Green Ladder” Bamboo Pavilion by Vo Trong Nghia Architects in Australia
The fourth edition of Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation’s “Fugitive Structures” is Vo Trong Nghia Architects’ Green Ladder. The fourth and final iteration in the series, like its predecessors, continues to support architects to develop new ideas, forms and materials in the public domain.
Installed in the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) courtyard as part of its Fugitive Structures programme, Green Ladder is made from lengths of bamboo connected to form repetitive grids. Despite being constructed from natural material, the pavilion has a distinctly modern appearance. Integral to the design, woven planting boxes are staggered throughout the structure housing native plants that effectively fuse the exotic nature of the bamboo to the Australian environment.
The concept behind Green Ladder derives from principal architect Vo Trong Nghia’s vision to connect people to nature by greening the city. This task has special significance in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, the world’s most built up city and where the architect’s head office is located.
With a population of 10 million, just 2.5 percent of the city is dedicated to green space. This level of urban density is harmful to health. For example, in a 2014 Al Jazeera documentary Vo explains that 90 percent of Ho Chi Minh City children under five suffer from respiratory illness.
At the press launch for Green Ladder, Vo Trong Nghia expanded on his mission, explaining that he believes that creating a greater connection to nature would benefit society by reducing interpersonal conflict.
Before being installed at SCAF, Green Ladder was the highlight of the inaugural Asia Pacific Architectural Forum held in Brisbane in March this year.
Vo Trong Nghia Architects is quickly developing a global reputation for their unique philosophy. The New York Post has described the company as one of the world’s edgiest architectural firms, and Japanese architectural magazine A&U recently dedicated an issue to the firm (their first to a non-Japanese architect).
For more information about the Green Ladder pavilion, please click here to read the original version of this article on Art Radar.
