261 Jinhua Structures / Herzog & De Meuron

Architects: Herzog & de Meuron
Associate Architect: Fake Design
Year: 2007
Photography: Evan Chakroff, Tatiana Bilbao
Structural Engineering (Structure I): WGG Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure AG
Engineering (Structure II): SJB.Kempter.Fitze AG; Ingenieurbüro CNC.Technik im Holzbau
Wood Construction (Structure II): Holzbau Amman GmbH, Holzbau Sauer, Holzbau Huter
Wood Transport (Structure II): HIAG Handel Basel; ITA, Füllinsdorf, Switzerland
Consulting: Creation Holz GmbH
Client: Jindong New District Constructing Headquarters of Jinhua City; Fondation Beyeler
City: Jinhua, Zhejiang
Country: China

261 Jinhua Structures, a pavilion project designed by Herzog & de Meuron in Jinhua, China, reinterpreted surface ornament as a spatial generator within the experimental framework of the Jinhua Architecture Park, curated by Ai Weiwei. Completed in 2007, the project includes Structure I, the Cube, which was constructed in dyed concrete using traditional formwork, and Structure II, the Vertical, a laminated timber pavilion fabricated in Basel-Riehen using CNC technology. Both designs originated from a geometric grid digitally applied to a cubic form and projected inward to generate inhabitable volumes. These forms were filtered through anthropometric criteria to enhance spatial usability. Although the third proposed pavilion, Structure III, the Horizontal, remained unbuilt, the constructed pavilions demonstrated an architectural process based on digital modeling rather than formal typology. As the park now faces physical deterioration due to halted maintenance, the Cube, often called the Reading Room, remains one of the most technically and conceptually resolved examples within this experimental public landscape.

261 jinhua structures / herzog & de meuron

261 Jinhua Structures by Herzog & de Meuron was developed for the Jinhua Architecture Park, an initiative organized by Ai Weiwei to explore experimental design through a series of small-scale pavilions along the Yiwu River. Completed between 2004 and 2006, the park featured 17 structures by international architects, each presenting spatial responses that questioned traditional forms and civic programs. Ai Weiwei framed the project not as a collection of aesthetic objects, but as a vision of architecture capable of proposing alternative futures. Architectural theorist Evan Chakroff described the effort as one where “novelty is embraced not for its own sake, but for its potential to generate new archetypes.”

Herzog & de Meuron entered the project while working on a master plan for a new urban center in Jindong District. The design of their pavilion drew from a geometric system originally intended to regulate façade elements, such as windows and doors, within that larger plan. Initially, this geometry was applied as a decorative surface layer on a brick volume. However, this method produced a static result lacking spatial richness. To address this, the architects projected the two-dimensional pattern onto a cube and then into the interior of that volume. The result was a three-dimensional grid of intersecting lines and nodes, forming a virtual space. This spatial matrix became the basis for exploration through computational design. Rather than determining form in advance, the team used the grid to uncover potential volumes and connections within a digital environment.

The output of this process was often incoherent or unusable. In response, Herzog & de Meuron developed a selective approach to extract usable conditions. They highlighted forms that corresponded to human scale and movement while disregarding those with no spatial logic. The resulting spaces suggested benches, overhangs, and platforms, without clearly defined functions. These ambiguous but inhabitable forms emphasized the potential of digital systems to generate architecture from rules and parameters rather than symbolic representation. This approach led to three pavilion proposals. Structure I, the Cube, was completed in Jinhua and constructed using dyed concrete poured into conventional formwork derived from digital models. Structure II, the Vertical, built in Berower Park for the Fondation Beyeler in Basel-Riehen, was fabricated from laminated wood shaped through CNC milling. Structure III, the Horizontal, intended as a walkable pergola in Genoa, was never realized.

The Cube, often referred to as the Reading Room, is a compact structure of intersecting surfaces and carved recesses. Its identity is defined by spatial complexity rather than a clear function. Users encounter it not through a program but through experience, discovering places to sit, stand, or pause within the sculpted volume. The structure represents Herzog & de Meuron’s interest in allowing geometry to guide form through computational generation. Over time, the Jinhua Architecture Park fell into neglect. Disputes regarding administrative oversight and funding left the site without maintenance. Many of the pavilions remain physically intact but unused. These include Tatiana Bilbao’s fractured Exhibition Room, Michael Maltzan’s Book Bar with its reference to Confucian history, and Toshiko Mori’s Newspaper Café, which contrasts public information with contemplative space. Although the site is no longer active, it continues to reflect its original ambitions through its physical presence.

Chakroff compared the park to iconic architectural exhibitions such as the Crystal Palace or the Eiffel Tower, recognizing its visionary scope. However, architect César García Guerra, a participant in the project, argued that the park had been planned as a permanent civic amenity, not a temporary showcase. He cited political circumstances as the cause of its abandonment. Despite its current condition, 261 Jinhua Structures continues to demonstrate how abstract geometry and digital computation can create architecture with spatial meaning. The Cube remains one of the most thoroughly resolved structures in the park, expressing a design philosophy that allows material, form, and code to converge. Within the unfinished narrative of Jinhua Architecture Park, it serves as a lasting example of how experimental architecture can propose new civic possibilities, even when the urban vision it supported remains unrealized.