Creating a bamboo pavilion in the city of Kuala Lumpur’s oldest public park, studio Eleena Jamil Architect has created a sturdy and picturesque structure for community use. The Kuala Lumpur based studio was approached by local government to design the pavilion in the Perdana Botanical Gardens, in the heart of the city. 

The park is quite popular with locals and tourists alike. The new pavilion is situated on a body of water that runs through the centre of the park, and is constructed to look like it is floating above the man-made lake.

The completed playhouse itself, known as the Bamboo Playhouse, is an open structure that sits on a series of raised platforms. Spread over a number of levels, the playhouse references traditional structures of the region, known as ‘Wakaf’.

The freestanding units provide shelter for park-goers and opportunities for community events, as it cantilevers out over the body of water that surrounds the structure, placing it on its own private island in the park.

Blending beautifully with the verdant and lush landscape of the botanical gardens, the playful pavilion is constructed entirely of bamboo.

Not a common building material for the region, bamboo nonetheless is proving to be a successful experiment into the exploration of its future viability for sustainable building, and encourages the ‘treehouse’ effect of the structure.