With deep design of wooden structure practice
With deep design of wooden structure practice｜
Shanghai Zhenyuan Timber Structure Debut at 2026 Tsinghua-Shenzhen Design Camp Innovation Forum: Foldable Lightweight Pavilion Unlocks New Paradigm for Digital Low-Carbon Construction
On July 19th, the 2026 Tsinghua-Shenzhen Design Camp Innovation Forum, jointly organized by the Future Habitat Research Institute of Tsinghua University's International Graduate School and the AA Architecture Alliance College, and hosted by the TiDE Digital Engine Laboratory, concluded successfully at Tsinghua SIGS. This international event focused on the core topic of "Deep Design", centered on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, gathering global academicians, top architects, scholars, and industry practitioners. They engaged in ideological exchanges around industry topics such as climate change, AI innovation, and the reconfiguration of future habitats, creating a high-level academic dialogue feast that links theory, technology, and industry.
Academician Zhuang Weimin, Principal Lou Yongqi, Dean Brett Steele, and other renowned scholars from home and abroad gathered at the venue. The four sub-forums respectively explored the core values of design in the new era from dimensions such as innovative practice, sustainable construction, human-centered design, and future space, jointly discussing that what truly drives industry transformation is not isolated theories or a single technology, but rather the practical implementation of the integration and continuous creation of new social value through the combination of the two.
The forum proposed a brand-new "deep design" paradigm - design is no longer limited to the creation of physical buildings; instead, it involves a systematic creativity that integrates ideas, technology, industries, and society. Through design, it leads technology and continuously explores deep issues related to human living, thus guiding the development direction of the global construction industry.
Collaboration between the school and enterprises, achieving rapid implementation of a lightweight folding wooden structure physical work within 15 days.
As the core exhibition item of this forum, Shanghai Zhenyuan Wood Structure has collaborated with Tsinghua SIGS Future Habitat Research Institute to present the significant outcome of the 2026 AA-THU International Campus Visit Program - "Natural Forces and Super Folding: Digital Construction of Lightweight Pavilion for Tropical Climates". Through the physical implementation of wood structure, this showcases the core concept of "Deep Design" of this forum in a concrete and vivid manner.
The project integrates the traditional Japanese origami aesthetics with the cutting-edge digital construction technology. It focuses on four core directions: natural forces, super folding, digital timber construction, and tropical climate adaptation. It explores a lightweight, foldable, and highly adaptable sustainable and low-carbon timber construction system. For the tropical environment with high temperatures and abundant rainfall, the folding pavilion uses glued wood as the main material. Through a modular folding structure, it achieves ventilation and shading, climate adaptability, while also considering form innovation, low-carbon environmental protection, and local environmental adaptation. It provides a new solution for tropical lightweight temporary buildings.
From the detailed planning, five-axis CNC precision processing to on-site assembly and installation, Shanghai Zhenyuan Timber Structure collaborated closely with the academic team from Tsinghua University. The entire process was completed within 15 days, achieving the full integration of "academic creativity - digital modeling - factory manufacturing - on-site assembly", fully demonstrating the efficiency and flexibility of digital manufacturing for timber structures.
The lightweight folding pavilion is an important attempt by the enterprise to deeply explore digital timber construction and integrate research, production and education. Zhenyuan Timber Structure has always adhered to physically manufacturing to undertake cutting-edge architectural ideas, converting low-carbon timber construction and digital processing technologies into practical and replicable residential construction plans.
The timber structure bridge project integrates research, education and industry, promoting local manufacturing and aiming for a low-carbon construction future.
Currently, the global construction industry is fully advancing towards a new stage of green and low-carbon, lightweight, and digital transformation. Leveraging the years of research on glued wood systems and the implementation of digital prefabricated wooden structure projects, Shanghai Zhenyuan Wood Structure has continuously collaborated with top academic platforms worldwide, such as Tsinghua University and the AA Architecture Alliance College in the UK. They deeply integrate the natural low-carbon and sustainable material advantages of wood with digital construction technology, focusing on specialized fields such as modern wood structures, modular temporary spaces, and low-carbon prefabricated buildings for continuous deep exploration.
In the future, Zhenyuan Wood Structure will continue to deepen the collaborative innovation of industry-university-research, focusing on lightweight, recyclable, assembly-based and digital wood construction technologies as the core levers. It will implement the "deep design" value proposition, relying on its local wood construction manufacturing strength to contribute to the global low-carbon future human settlement construction. It will continuously build a cooperation bridge that connects the international cutting-edge design ideas with the physical construction industry.