Fold-out Greenhouse with opening sides transforms into pavilion for agricultural education
Architecture practices Office for Roundtable and JXY Studio have designed an expandable greenhouse clad in polycarbonate panels that hinge open to create a space for sharing food and knowledge about urban farming in Guangzhou, China.
The project, titled Your Greenhouse Is Your Kitchen Is Your Living Room, aims to challenge systemic farming practices by presenting a more open and participatory spatial model that fosters a sense of agency in the community.
Designed for Guangzhou's Fei Arts museum, the structure features a steel A-frame encased in polycarbonate sheets that help to create a microclimate suitable for growing plants such as potatoes, green peppers, lettuce, bok choi and various herbs.
Carefully positioned gaps between the panels allowed for passive cooling, ensuring a comfortable environment for users in this subtropical setting.
The building's sides can be raised and lowered using a series of tension cables suspended from the apex of the frame, allowing it to morph into a pavilion for hosting larger events.
"The boundaries and connections between nature and the artefacts are constantly at play in determining the role of the pavilion," explained architect Leyuan Li of Office for Roundtable.
"When enclosed, it serves as a greenhouse, reflecting the change of seasons and the growth of leaves on the translucent exterior; when opened, it transforms into an outdoor living space, encouraging new forms of sharing that conflate everyday activities."
Your Greenhouse Is Your Kitchen Is Your Living Room evolved from an earlier installation developed in response to concerns surrounding food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Li secured a grant from Hong Kong's Design Trust to explore the cultural practice of farming and the small-scale, community-based projects that emerged during this time as alternatives to centralised food production.
Colorado-based Office for Roundtable worked with JXY Studio in Guangzhou to develop the lightweight, modular pavilion, which has been shortlisted in the installation design category of the 2025 Dezeen Awards.
The pavilion was installed at the Fei Arts museum in September 2024 and remained in place for four months. During that time it hosted a series of weekend social gatherings, as well as talks aimed at raising awareness around food memory, soil contamination, civic farming and other food-related topics.
The pavilion's setting within the museum's garden aligned neatly with the project's social objectives, as the site already contained an urban farm surrounded by high-rise residential buildings.
During weekdays, the greenhouse was maintained by local volunteers, who organised a schedule for watering and caring for the plants. Most of the vegetables harvested were used for cooking workshops, while herbs such as mint were used in cocktails during happy hours hosted by Fei Arts.
The designers also created a collection of operable and movable furniture, including vegetable growing racks, kitchen counters and folding tables that were constructed from the same materials.
The adaptable interior elements supported planting, processing and sharing of food within the community, helping to promote an enhanced understanding and appreciation for the food chain amongst urban dwellers.
The growing pots incorporated in the pavilion were portable and the architects devised an exchange system so participants could remove them, take them home and replace them with new pots planted with seeds.
Li told Dezeen that the project aimed to present farming as a collective and social act that brings people together, creating a flexible space that amalgamated the roles of a greenhouse, an outdoor kitchen and a living room.
"We live in a time when social interactions are increasingly limited due to emerging virtual technologies," he pointed out. "To counter this trend, it is essential to offer informal and playful public spaces that encourage people to come together and recognise the value of community."
"We wanted to develop a project that uses the tools and spaces of farming to promote new forms of togetherness and conviviality," he added.
Alongside the pavilion and its related activities, the two studios curated an exhibition to showcase drawings and texts developed during their food-related research.
The project epitomises Office for Roundtable's interest in designing infrastructure projects based on modular, flexible elements that can be scaled and adapted to suit a community's specific requirements.
Other innovative greenhouses featured on Dezeen include one with a vaulted glass-block roof and a faceted vertical farm in Beijing.
The photography is by Leyuan Li.
The post Fold-out Greenhouse with opening sides transforms into pavilion for agricultural education appeared first on Dezeen.
