Get the best of Domus straight to your inbox!

Tangram Canopy

Developed by People’s Architecture Office as a covered market for the 2014 COART festival in Lijiang, China, the Tangram Canopy is a flexible modular roof structure.

The design of this flexible modular roof structure developed by People’s Architecture Office mimics the Tangram, a Chinese game of individual triangle-derived pieces that can be rearranged into various forms.

The flat roof of the Tangram Canopy ensures the modules are directionless, unlike typical canopies. The spaces created are infinitely expandable in all directions, unified under a singular canopy.

The structure consisted of truss-like L shape modules made of 10mm thick steel rod. The lightness of the structure allows it to almost disappear into the background while the canopy appears to float above. The long spans provide flexible open spaces on the ground with minimal obstructions.