suspended glacier forms translate climate change into an interactive installation in shanghai
Glacier Project translates icy landscapes into an urban artwork
Developed by Dayuan Design in collaboration with the ocean conservation nonprofit N.O.C., Glacier Project is a sustainable exhibition and spatial installation that examines the relationship between glaciers, oceans, cities, and human activity. Presented under the theme Resonance of the Extremes, the project translates climate change from a distant environmental condition into a spatial and sensory experience that can be encountered within Shanghai’s urban setting.
Rather than relying solely on data or visual representation, the installation gives physical form to the interconnected systems of glaciers, oceans, and cities. The exhibition unfolds across multiple scales, beginning with the outdoor installation Parallel Projections – Glacier Project and continuing through film, sound, artefacts, and the tabletop installation Flowing Glacier. Together, these elements move the subject from the urban landscape into the exhibition environment and, ultimately, into everyday experience.
The project draws on an understanding of design as a system that extends beyond objects or visual expression to encompass material choices, spatial organization, environmental relationships, and long-term public engagement. Developed in response to increasing public awareness of climate change, the installation addresses the distance that often exists between environmental information and lived experience. Glaciers remain widely represented through images and data, yet they are rarely encountered directly. The project proposes spatial design as a means of making these distant phenomena physically accessible.
aerial views of Glacier Project by day | all images by © XUEQING
Nine Suspended Volumes Reinterpret the Geometry of Icebergs
Viewed from the plaza, the outdoor installation by Dayuan Design Studio consists of nine suspended geometric forms arranged as a fragmented glacial landscape. Their faceted geometry references the visible and submerged portions of an iceberg, translating this dual condition into architectural volumes. The repeated elements suggest a larger glacial system rather than individual objects, emphasizing the interconnected and changing nature of polar environments.
Visitors move through the installation and interact with suspended components positioned beneath each form. Pulling these elements causes the geometric volumes above to contract, fold, and shift, creating a direct mechanical response without digital interfaces or screens. Through this physical interaction, the installation establishes a tangible relationship between human action and environmental change, transforming observation into participation.
suspended geometric ice forms create an urban ice field that visitors can walk through
Rain, Reflection, and Light Activate the Glacier Installation
Material selection reflects the project’s environmental objectives. The installation is constructed as a modular system designed for disassembly, transport, and reuse. Its primary components include recycled metal, discarded waterproof fabric, mirrored stainless steel, and a lightweight structural frame. Triangular perforations within the metal mesh reference the pores, fractures, and retreating edges formed through glacial melting. Their gradual increase in size from top to bottom allows greater light transmission while visually shifting the forms from solidity toward fragility. White membrane surfaces preserve the appearance of suspended ice, while changing daylight, air movement, and visitor activity continuously alter shadows and reflections.
Environmental conditions also become part of the installation. Rainwater is directed through openings in the structure and allowed to fall naturally onto metal surfaces before draining through perforations in the floor. The resulting sound, together with shifting reflections on wet surfaces, incorporates weather into the spatial experience and connects the installation to broader climatic and hydrological cycles.
translucent membranes and metal mesh convey the lightness, tension, and fragility of glacial ice
Dayuan Design turns glaciers into a Tabletop sculptural object
Flowing Glacier, developed from the larger installation, translates the project into a tabletop object intended for closer and repeated observation. The work employs backflow incense as its central medium, allowing smoke to descend slowly through a translucent glacial form in response to airflow, temperature, and density. The movement recalls cold air descending through valleys or meltwater passing through crevices, making the irreversible passage of time and glacial retreat perceptible through a small-scale, continuous event.
The sculptural element is produced using liuli, a traditional Chinese glassmaking technique recognized as intangible cultural heritage. Formed through heat and subsequently solidified, the material introduces qualities of transparency, light, and permanence that contrast with the coldness and vulnerability of glacial ice. The project combines contemporary environmental themes with traditional craft, extending sustainability beyond material reuse to include cultural continuity.
visitor interaction with the glacier installation, by day and at night
A Journey Through Glacial Landscapes and Climate Change
The exhibition sequence, also developed by Dayuan Design with N.O.C., translates research on glaciers, oceans, and climate change into an immersive spatial narrative. The outdoor installation establishes the initial point of contact, while the exhibition volume guides visitors through a series of spaces organized by film, artefacts, sound, and installation. A restrained architectural language of deep blue volumes, horizontal lines, and carefully paced circulation references the sea, glacial strata, and cold light while directing movement through the exhibition. Organized as a one-way route, the exhibition progresses through four thematic chapters: Encounter, Remains, Listening, and Resonance. Together, these sections move from distant observation toward sensory engagement and reflection.
Encounter examines perception through framed openings that align views of the outdoor installation with the surrounding city, suggesting continuity between urban environments and natural systems. Remains presents objects, photographs, manuscripts, hunting tools, and clothing from polar communities, connecting climate change to lived experience and cultural memory. Listening introduces an acoustically isolated space where recordings of glaciers, meltwater, marine life, and polar environments replace the sounds of the city. Resonance concludes the exhibition by examining the interdependence of glaciers, oceans, and everyday life, encouraging visitors to consider their own relationship to broader environmental systems.
Across the public installation, exhibition, and tabletop object, Glacier Project progressively reduces the perceived distance between glaciers and contemporary urban life. The project positions sustainability as an integrated design methodology that encompasses spatial strategy, material selection, structural systems, cultural continuity, and public participation. Through temporary architectural intervention, it investigates how design can create lasting awareness by connecting individual actions with larger environmental processes.
recycled metal and reclaimed fabric form the modular structure
daylight passes through the metal mesh, casting shifting shadows across the structure and membrane
metal floor panels of the glacier installation
pulling suspended elements alters the geometry above
the suspended ice forms illuminate at night
visitors pause among the illuminated ice forms as public art shifts from observation to bodily experience
Glacier Project installation and Flowing Glacier tabletop art installation
backflow incense descending through Flowing Glacier
exterior of Resonance of the Extremes environmental art exhibition
entrance to the Resonance of the Extremes environmental art exhibition
interior of the Resonance of the Extremes environmental art exhibition
interior of the Resonance of the Extremes environmental art exhibition
project info:
name: Parallel Projections- Glacier Project
designer, spatial designer, art curator & installation: Dayuan Design | @dayuan_design_official
project owner: N.O.C.
constructor: Dihua Art Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.; Shanghai Mingshuntu Enterprise Management Co., Ltd.
location: Shanghai, China
area: 160 sqm
photographer: ©XUEQING
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom
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