Golden Moon is an enormous temporary architectural structure that mimics a giant lantern. The geodesic dome was designed by architects Kristof Crolla and Adam Fingrut as part of this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival at Lee Kum Kee Lantern Wonderland in Hong Kong. The massive venue serves as an inviting public event space and doubles as a remarkable visual experience for festival goers as it puts on a spectacular neon light show against the night sky.
The annual festival ran its course this year from September 27th through October 2nd, giving Golden Moon a 6-day run in Victoria Park. Crolla and Fingrut’s structure fit in perfectly with the festival’s theme–a celebration of the moon when it is at its brightest and roundest. It echoes the spherical shape of the moon and the significance behind it in Chinese culture that believes the full moon is a symbol of reunion and gathering. Golden Moon also references the legend of Chang’e, the Moon Goddess of Immortality, whose love for her husband Houyi burns bright in hues of reds and orange on the day of their reunion on the moon.
The structure is lit with animated LED lights that line the bamboo scaffolding that hugs the lightweight steel framework. Over all of this are geometric sheets of fabric, giving the dome this extraordinary pattern and texture. The flickering, luminescent lights beneath and around the fabrics causes the dome to come alive like a ball of passionately dancing flames. More than just a pavilion for spectators to enter or pass by, Golden Moon is a symbolic representation of the festival itself, as well as a wonderful example of traditional and modern design working in blissful unison.
Kristof Crolla website
via [Inspir3d, Discover Hong Kong, HKTB]