Seaweed Pavilion: Biomaterial-Based Tensegrity Structure

As the construction sector advances toward Net Zero, embodied carbon from materials and construction is increasingly pivotal, as most emissions occur at project outset. This paper investigates seaweed as a low-carbon, renewable biomaterial with rapid renewability, wide availability, and very low mass. Currently, it has little architectural deployment beyond processed insulation. We present the Seaweed Pavilion, an experimental prototype that integrates seaweed within a tensegrity structural system to create an ultra-lightweight, demountable, and easily transported framework. Designed collaboratively by students and academics from the UK, Japan, and Italy, the pavilion was developed and fabricated in Japan, then shipped to Venice for exhibition via standard postal services, demonstrating the practicality of its low-mass construction. To our knowledge, this is the first documented use of seaweed in a tensegrity system. The resulting grid provides a replicable, scalable method for rapid, low-carbon assembly, and temporary placemaking. Developed under the DELIGHT Group’s mission to create dismountable, mobile pavilions for urban activation, the project positions biomaterials (specifically seaweed) as credible contributors to reducing embodied carbon across the built environment.

Iñaki Abalos

Professor in Residence, Department of Architecture, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA

Orazio Carpenzano

Dean, Facoltà di Architettura, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome

Yung Ho Chang

Professor of Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

Winka Dubbeldam

Miller Professor and Chair of Architecture at Stuart Weitzman School of Design

Brian Ford

Professor Emeritus, Department of Architecture & Built Environment, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Hsinming Fung

Professor, SCI-Arc, Los Angeles CA, USA

Carlo Gasparrini

Professor of Urbanism, Dipartimento di Architettura, Universita' degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy

Marco Imperadori

Professor of Design and Technological Innovation and Chancellor’s Delegate for the Far East, Politecnico di M

Rahul Mehrotra

Professor of Urban Design and Planning, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA

Antoine Picon

Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology, GSD, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA

Mónica Ponce de León

Dean, School of Architecture, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, USA

Jane Rendell

Professor, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, London, UK

Peter Rich

Professor of Architecture, Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, South Africa

Michael Speaks

Dean, School of Architecture, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY, USA

Martha Thorne

Hon FRIBA, Hon COAM, Director of Strategic and Institutional Relations, the Gallery Institute, Portugal

C David Tseng

Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Chiao-Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan

Li Xiangning

Deputy Dean, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

Seaweed Pavilion: Biomaterial-Based Tensegrity Structure

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