Jinji Lake Pavilion / BIG

Architects: Bjarke Ingels Group
Area: 1200 m²
Year: 2025
Photographs: StudioSZ Photo / Justin Szeremeta
Category: Landscape Architecture, Pavilion, Public Architecture
Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Catherine Huang
Project Managers: Molly Hsiao Rou Huang, Dora Jiabao Lin
Design Lead: Sarkis Sarkisyan
Team: Arda Özker Cincin, Caroline Anastasia Senyszyn, Desislava Georgieva, Eleonora Niccoli, Gwanghyoen Park, Jason Cheuk Hei Lee, Jonathan Yi Ren Chin, Kekoa Charlot, Mathis Paul Gebauer, Matteo Pavanello, Mike Munoz, Paula Zaklina Domka, Pei Huang, Simone Parigi, Tseng-Hsuan Wei, Yanis Amasri Sierra, Yingying Guan, Zhiyuan Zhang
Client: Suzhou Harmony Development Group
Collaborators: ARTS Group
City: Suzhou
Country: China

Jinji Lake Pavilion public architecture project by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group in Suzhou, China occupies a 1,200 m² site along the Jinji Lake waterfront and forms part of a city-led initiative to create a dynamic promenade of eleven permanent pavilions. Designed in collaboration with Arts Group, the pavilion blends the traditional Chinese courtyard layout with a modern program for public gathering and hospitality. Four volumes are joined under a unified canopy to create a resting place along the 13-km lake trail. The design features a pixelated leaf-inspired roof that drapes toward the ground, echoing the surrounding camphor trees and casting dappled shadows via perforated plates that provide thermal comfort. The lifted roof edges create double-height entrances leading into a central courtyard centered around a single tree. This courtyard provides access to the pavilion’s four programmatic spaces: a coffee shop, a restaurant, a boutique, and a visitor center. The roof integrates two layers of perforated shading that allow sunlight to filter through and produce patterns of light and shadow throughout the day, while emphasizing continuity between architecture and landscape.

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group has completed the 1,200 m² Jinji Lake Pavilion in Suzhou, China. Located along the Jinji Lake waterfront, the pavilion serves as a venue for public gatherings and hospitality. It is also one of eleven permanent pavilions established under the city’s initiative to develop a vibrant and inviting promenade.

The Jinji Lake Pavilion, designed by BIG in collaboration with Arts Group, combines the traditional Chinese courtyard typology with the functions of a contemporary public space. Four distinct structures are interconnected to create a shared gathering area for both visitors and residents, while also serving as a resting spot for pedestrians along the 13-kilometer Jinji Lake trail. This pavilion represents BIG’s first completed project in Suzhou, with the adjacent Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art expected to be completed later this year.

Catherine Huang, Partner at BIG, describes the Jinji Lake Pavilion as a peaceful community space situated beneath the expansive camphor trees along the lake. The design is intended to act as an extension of the surrounding natural canopy. A stylized roof composed of pixelated leaf forms gently slopes toward the ground, offering shelter at the intersection of pathways and framing striking views of the lake. Perforated metal plates filter light to create dappled shadows that mimic the appearance of leaves, while also enhancing thermal performance, combining visual poetry with practical function.

The pavilion features expansive glass facades that offer unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape from within. Polished steel surfaces reflect light and greenery, establishing a subtle visual connection between the pavilion and the adjacent waterfront park. Moreover, the pixelated roof helps reduce the visual scale of the structure, allowing it to blend with the textures of the natural environment around it.

Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director of BIG, explains that the Jinji Lake Pavilion is designed as a collection of public rooms unified beneath a single canopy. Referencing the architectural language of traditional Chinese teahouses, the design replaces the typical glazed ceramic tiled roof with actual glass tiles, pushing the ideas of lightness and transparency further and softening the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as between garden and architecture. Described as a smaller counterpart to the Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art, the pavilion aims to reinterpret the future of architecture and landscape in the Lake District, drawing from the deep cultural legacy of Suzhou’s Chinese garden design.

The roof of the pavilion is elevated on all sides, forming generous double-height entrances that lead visitors into a central courtyard, where a single tree acts as a calm focal point within the space. From this courtyard, guests can access the pavilion’s four distinct sections, each serving a different function: a coffee shop, a boutique, a restaurant, and a visitor center. Bringing the exterior environment into the interior, the roof structure incorporates two layers of perforated shading elements—an outer layer integrated into the glass framework and an inner layer forming the ceiling. These layers allow views of the sky and let natural light filter through the perforations, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow throughout the day.