A seating pagoda in Sydney’s Chinatown has been converted into a tourist information kiosk with a sympathetic and contextual design.
David Stevenson of Lacoste + Stevenson said the new lantern sits inside the existing pagoda structure and is clearly understood as a new volume, glowing at night. “It consists of two semicircular volumes that are clad with patterned, curved glass,” Stevenson said.
The pattern was created by paper-cut artist Pamela Mei-Leng See and includes cultural reference to the Chinese community, such as flowers, fish and birds. The sliding semicircle of glass screens, provided by Axolotl, open to reveal a hot red interior that houses a wall of shelving for brochures, pamphlets and tourist information.
The pavillion does not attempt to be an authentic Chinese design, but instead reinterprets Chinese images and symbols in a way that represents Australian Chinese culture.
