The Floating Pavilion sits at roughly 500 meters above sea level in the Organic Tea Valley of Songyang County, Zhejiang Province. Positioned at the summit of a terraced tea mountain, the 85-square-meter steel structure serves as a panoramic observation station—a thin, hovering roof that registers against the ridgeline without displacing the agricultural terrain beneath it.

A composite sandwich roof—steel grid between upper and lower plates—tapers at its edges, compressing structural depth into a blade-like profile. The platform is supported by a single transverse beam with cantilevered extensions; semicircular voids between the deck edge and columns allow light to pass underneath, visually lifting the structure from the ground. Tension cables between columns maintain transparency while providing safety.

The ascending granite path follows existing tea-picking routes, winding through the terraces so that the pavilion roof appears and disappears with each turn. Visitors arrive at the summit, survey the reservoir to the south, then descend into the pavilion across a gravel threshold. Inside, stepped platforms respond to the terraced slope: views shift from tightly framed to fully open as one moves downward, culminating in a panorama of the valley.

Steep terrain precluded heavy machinery; steel components were prefabricated off-site and transported by wheeled carts and cable systems. Excavation was minimized, and ecological restoration followed construction. Since completion, the pavilion and its path have become part of everyday village life—used for walking, resting, and watching sunrise and sunset, while improving access for tea farmers during harvest.