Pazhou Yue, Guangzhou: Bronze Honeycomb Panels for an Elevated Garden Bridge

Turning a continuous curve into individual panels

The platform reads as a continuous ribbon when viewed from the garden. Manufacturing it calls for separate pieces that meet along a planned layout. Flat areas, curved edges and V-shaped sections have different geometries, so a single repeated panel cannot describe the whole surface. The quantity schedule makes that distinction visible: 83 curved pieces, 132 flat pieces and 115 custom V-shaped pieces within the main platform package.

For this type of work, the detailed drawings need to resolve where each piece starts and ends, how its edges return, and how it meets the next panel. A joint that looks acceptable on a flat elevation can become conspicuous along a sweeping curve. The relevant checks include the panel outline, radius, joint direction and clearance at adjoining glass, stone or other finishes. These are practical detailing questions for custom cladding, especially where visitors can see the underside at close range.

Xinmao's responsibility was to translate the design into manufacturable metal components while preserving the intended geometry. The project's colour-zoned model illustrates how the curved form can be broken into defined areas. It also helps explain why the supplied panel schedule contains several shape families instead of a simple square-metre order.

Where the V-shaped honeycomb panels fit

The 115 V-shaped pieces account for 267 m², the largest area of the three platform panel groups. Xinmao used its in-house developed honeycomb panel technology for these custom shapes. This is a defined part of the supplied package, with its own quantity and area, rather than a general description of every curved panel on the project.

Honeycomb construction combines facing skins with a cellular core. In a sandwich assembly, separating and bonding those skins contributes to bending stiffness while keeping the core comparatively light. The finished panel's behaviour depends on the whole assembly, including the skins, core, bond, edges and supports.

For a V-shaped component, the transition through the angled section is a separate fabrication concern. Its face geometry must relate to the panel backing and the adjoining modules. On comparable projects, designers and fabricators should settle the section, edge construction and support arrangement in the approved details before releasing components for manufacture. A bronze surface finish does not resolve those underlying geometry decisions.

A platform seen from both levels

The raised route gives visitors a view over the garden. People below see the underside, perimeter and openings around the trees. The supplied photographs show how planting sits beneath the platform and how the metal surfaces extend over the staircase approach. This changes the way the panel layout is read. A surface above eye level still needs considered joints and edge treatment because it remains in view along the garden path.

The platform is 4.5 metres above the garden. That height describes the architectural setting, not a structural rating. The load-bearing platform and its engineering belong to the project's structural design. Xinmao's scope described here is the custom metal component package, detailed drawings, production and installation guidance. Decorative cladding must be coordinated with its supporting construction, and responsibilities for each connection should be clear in the approved drawing package.

The staircase carries the curve down to the garden

Xinmao supplied 43 curved honeycomb panels covering 43 m² for the staircase surrounds, together with 28 metres of handrail trim. The stairs bring the same metal finish within reach of visitors. Here, the relationship between cladding, glass and stone is easier to inspect than it is on the elevated soffit. A return at the bottom of a curve, or the line beside a stair tread, can affect how the whole stair appears.

These components deserve their own setting-out details. Staircase panels need to follow the changing elevation as well as the plan curve, while linear trim needs clear start points, joints and terminations. The videos show the relationship between the metal edge and the glass balustrade as the camera moves up and down the stairs. The stone treads and glass remain separate elements of the wider project; the Xinmao quantity schedule identifies the metal cladding and handrail trim supplied.

Eight columns with decorative metal wraps

The package included decorative wraps to eight columns, each 4.5 metres high. These are nonstructural surface components. Their purpose is to finish the visible column faces within the garden composition. They should be described separately from the structural columns they surround, so the scope does not imply that Xinmao supplied the platform's primary supports.

Column detailing also needs to account for interfaces at the top and bottom of each wrap. The appearance of a continuous vertical surface depends on how its seams, returns and adjoining finishes are resolved. The site footage provides a useful view of these vertical elements alongside the much larger panel surfaces overhead.

From the design team's drawings to site guidance

The Pazhou Yue team retained the lead design role. Xinmao handled metal component detailing and production, with Wings leading its project work. Keeping those responsibilities visible gives the case study a clearer account of how the package reached site. It also identifies where questions about panel geometry, fabrication and installation interfaces belong.

Xinmao provided on-site installation guidance. For a package with several panel families, that handoff connects the drawings and manufactured components with the installation sequence. On similar projects, component identification, orientation and adjoining interfaces need to be communicated before parts are fixed into position. Xinmao's site measurement and installation guidance service describes this part of project delivery.

The finished photographs record the architectural result, while the panel schedule records the supplied scope. Together they show how 373 honeycomb pieces, eight decorative column wraps and 28 metres of trim were brought into one garden setting. The useful lesson for another project is to define geometry, panel construction and installation interfaces alongside the finish selection.