< img src ="https://www.designboom.com/twitterimages/uploads/2026/03/studio-re-n-floating-white-steel-pavilion-china-tea-mountain-designboom-1200.jpg"alt =""> a curved canopy tops the Floating white Structure
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Songyang Studio RE+N presents an al fresco steel structure at the top of a terraced tea mountain in Songyang County, Zhejiang Province, China. Positioned roughly 500 meters above sea level, the 85-square-meter structure operates as both a viewing platform and a rest point within an active farming landscape. Located within the Organic Tea Valley of Xinxing Town, the project engages with an environment shaped by tea cultivation and previously accessible only through narrow selecting courses.
The design embraces a very little intervention strategy, putting a lightweight structure on slender supports to reduce impact on the terrain. The pavilion’s curved roofing system follows the shapes of the hillside, developing an official relationship with the surrounding topography. A path of granite actions extends existing tea-picking paths, creating a continuous flow path that connects the pavilion to the balconies below. The structure appears periodically along this ascent, reinforcing its integration with the landscape.
The spatial series is defined through a regulated shift from enclosure to openness. At the entryway, the roofing edge limits outward views, producing a compressed condition. As movement continues downward along stepped platforms, exposure gradually expands. At the most affordable point, the lifting of the roofing exposes a wide view across the tea valley. This development is accomplished through the positioning of the roof geometry with the slope of the website.
the Floating Structure hovers above the tea balconies with the village beyond|all images by Kejia Mei light-weight steel structure supports the pavilion by Studio RE+N The style team at Studio RE+N utilizes upraised steel elements for the structural system. The roofing utilizes a composite assembly consisting of a steel grid sandwiched in between upper and lower plates, forming a tapered profile that incorporates structural performance with drainage and visual connection. Platforms extend from a transverse beam utilizing wedge-shaped supports, while semicircular openings at column connections enable light to reach the surface below. Tension cables between columns operate as security barriers without blocking views.
Due to the high surface and restricted access, all aspects were prefabricated off-site and transferred utilizing carts and cable television systems along existing agricultural paths. Lighting is integrated at the base of the columns, projecting upward onto the underside of the roof to create diffuse illumination during evening hours.
Because its completion, the pavilion has been integrated into both visitor blood circulation and farming usage. The course leading to the structure supports movement through the terraces while likewise improving access for tea farmers during harvest durations.
