Wishing Pavilion

“Moonlight shining through the window, makes me wonder if there is frost on the ground.” “Looking up to see the moon, looking down, I miss my hometown.” Thoughts in the Silent Night, by Li Bai. Mid-Autumn Festival, falling on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, is when the families reunite to celebrate autumn harvests, light up lanterns and admire the bright moon of the year. The rituals and celebration continued for 2000 years; the famous poem by Li Bai signifies the value and meaning of Mid-Autumn Festival. Wishing Pavilion intends to embrace the tradition, recall the harmonious union and raise awareness to today’s social challenge. Inspired by the traditional local custom of the burning tower and sky lanterns in the Mid-Autumn Festival, Wishing Pavilion reinterpreted into a circular form with double helix layout leading the visitors around the burning lantern sculpture in the centre. The burning tower transformed into a perforated façade keeping the visitors visually and mentally connected between interior and exterior. Wishing Pavilion is also a hub to collect visitors’ wishes and symbolised it into 5000 bricks which represented the 5000 years of Chinese civilisation. It also is a remark of the social revolution in Hong Kong in 2019. Daydreamers Design is keen on exploring sustainable design and ideas; the experiment began in 2013 with the very first project “Rising Moon”. The studio aspired to execute creative ideas to raise public awareness of environmental issues. Wishing Pavilion extended the investigation to upcycling plastic. The 5000 plastic bricks created by recycled plastic, High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE/ Type 2 Plastic), commonly found in plastic bottles, shampoo bottles and plastic toys. HDPE has a high melting point; this allows the material to go through the moulding process and transform into a 3mm light permeable plastic brick (Measuring 40cm x 20cm x 15cm) with 7 gradient colours from yellow to red. With LED lights, sound effects and music, the 40 rings of plastic bricks featured a flaming gradient of Traditional Burning Tower experience. Wishing Pavilion measured in 18m diameter & 6m tall sits on hard ground in Victoria Park Hong Kong, it required a self-standing structure without any need of foundation work to be erected in 12 days due to its temporary nature. Therefore, the structural design has applied a modular system construction. The pavilion is divided into 20 division, supporting with a total of 32 SHS columns in 2 layers. These columns hold 86 metal shelves varies in 11 types that carry all the plastic bricks. The two curved arches with 10 meters span on East and West sides as entrance and exit, guiding the visitor to walk on the spiralling journey, visiting the Burning Lantern Sculpture. The sculpture designed with geometric structure articulated with the intangible cultural heritage – traditional paper lantern crafting technique. The 7.5m circular skylight opening at the centre captured the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Wishing Pavilion recorded a unique moment of Hong Kong with a contemporary and vibrant hue.