CHANGHAO STUDIO’s Infinite Grove multiplies a single tree into a forest

Infinite Grove by CHANGHAO STUDIO is a travelling garden pavilion. It turns a single living tree into what looks like an endless forest. The client, rednote Design Week, commissioned it for the Xintiandi exhibition area of the 2026 Shanghai International Flower Festival.

The pavilion covers about 10 m². Inside, two curved walls of mirror-polished stainless steel reflect the tree back and forth. As a result, the enclosure reads as a grove with no edge.

Three moments

The experience unfolds in three moments. From outside, the pavilion is a translucent polycarbonate volume with a single circular opening. Through it, passers-by catch a fragment of the tree and its reflections.

Next, visitors step up onto the grated floor of Infinite Grove, and the mirrors begin to multiply the view. At the centre, one real tree stands overhead. Meanwhile, a forest stretches out in both directions, and the visitors’ own reflections appear among the branches. After dark, light from within turns the pavilion into a lantern on the lawn.

Framed views and borrowed scenery

The design draws on two techniques of the classical Chinese garden. Framed views use a moon gate or window to control what the eye sees first. Borrowed scenery, on the other hand, lets a garden extend itself by drawing in what lies beyond its walls.

Rather than quote their historical forms, the studio uses them as spatial tools. Thus, the circular opening frames the tree, and the mirrors borrow it along with the sky, the site and the visitors themselves.

“We believe the most honest measure of a space is the moment someone reaches for their phone to capture it,” says Hao Chang, founder of CHANGHAO STUDIO. “With Infinite Grove we wanted that moment to happen around a single tree, and then for people to look again at the tree itself.”

Built to travel

From the start, the studio designed Infinite Grove to outlive the festival. For this reason, the team prefabricated it as a single steel-framed unit. It needs no foundations and travels on one truck, so work on site stays minimal.

The tree sits in a planter set into the floor, and each stop brings a new one. First came a flowering azalea at Xintiandi in late spring. Then the pavilion moved to Chahua Town in Shanghai for the summer, with an olive tree at its centre. The structure stays the same, yet each new tree produces a different forest.

In addition, Infinite Grove received the Second Prize at the 2026 Shanghai International Flower Festival. It also won a Gold Award at the UN Design Award. For another Shanghai project that brings trees into the city, see Heatherwick Studio’s 1000 Trees.

About CHANGHAO STUDIO

CHANGHAO STUDIO is a spatial design practice founded by New York-registered architect Hao Chang. He works with architects and landscape designers who studied at Tsinghua University and Columbia University. The studio designs spaces where people want to stay, places worth documenting, sharing and travelling to.

Drawings

Project Credits

Project: Infinite Grove (一木千林)
Location: Xintiandi exhibition area, 2026 Shanghai International Flower Festival (first site); Chahua Town, Shanghai (second site), China
Completion: April 2026
Typology: Temporary travelling garden pavilion
Area: 10 m²
Materials: Steel frame, mirror-polished stainless steel, polycarbonate
Architect: CHANGHAO STUDIO / @changhaostudio
Photography: KAI WAI WONG