Living Shade

Drawing from traditional garden structures, the proposal translates the archetypal arbour into a contemporary language of fluid geometry and light construction. Designed for a rooftop garden, it offers shade, structure, and a setting for social interaction, while embracing vegetation as an integral architectural element.

Inspired by traditional arbours and gazebos, the structure reinterprets a familiar vernacular form through a contemporary, fluid geometry. Its lightweight lattice frame dissolves the boundary between structure and landscape, allowing light, shadow, and vegetation to animate the space. As climbing plants mature, the arbour becomes a living canopy, at once architectural and organic, offering shade, intimacy, and a subtle dialogue between tradition and modernity.