Your greenhouse is your living room

Leyuan Li, Jiaxun Xu, Yue Xu

Project implementation: China
Project development: USA

Your Greenhouse Is Your Living Room is an environmental device that amalgamates the roles of a greenhouse, an outdoor kitchen, and a living room. It speculates on the agency of growing vegetables and sharing food as a collective act to combat environmental extremes. Designed for abandoned and underused urban spaces, the pavilion features an assemblage of movable and operable furniture that animates the surroundings with vegetable growing racks, kitchen counters, and folding tables. When enclosed, it serves as a greenhouse that encourages growing activities; when opened, it transforms into an outdoor living room that fosters new forms of community sharing in urban life.

The pavilion embodies a microclimate of care that nurtures both plants and humans. It promotes a system of collective farming, where contaminated soil from nearby farmland is treated on site and stored in portable pots designed for communal growing and product exchange among community members. Rainwater, harvested and filtered through the metal reservoir overhead, circulates in the pavilion for gardening and cooking activities. Owing to spatial tactics that mitigate the challenges posed by extreme weather in a subtropical climate, such as strategic gaps between panels that allow for passive cooling, the structure provides an optimal environment for plants, providing the visitors with balanced conditions of ventilation and shading to co-inhabit the space with plants and other species.

Office for Roundtable is a design practice and research collective led by Leyuan Li, currently based in Denver, Colorado, and Guangzhou, China. Their projects span a broad spectrum of different types and scales at the cross-section between interior and urban realms, exploring spaces and events that facilitate sharing among diverse communities to create collective narratives. Recent built projects have been featured on PLOT, ArchDaily, Designboom, Architect’s Newspaper, Gooood, and KoozArch, among others. Most recently, Office for Roundtable was awarded an Honorable Mention in AN’s Best of Practice Awards in the Architect (New Firm) - Southwest category in 2025.

JXY Studio is an interdisciplinary architecture and art studio co-founded by Yue Xu and Jiaxun Xu. Our work aims to push the boundaries of traditional architectural design and explore innovative approaches to the construction of space and narrative through a broader range of mediums, involving the fields of design, research, and visual arts, incorporating imagery, painting, installation, photography, moving image, and other multimedia forms. Combined with extensive experience in digital creation, spatial installation, artistic re-conceptualization of space, and innovative urbanism, each project of the studio is grounded in both logical research and inventive practice. Drawing inspiration from the rich cultural heritage of Lingnan and the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures, we use this unique perspective to fuel the interdisciplinary explorations of architecture and art.

We thank everyone who participated and visited the 14th São Paulo International Architecture Biennial, from September 18 to October 19, 2025

NOTE OF CONDOLENCE

With deep sorrow, the Brazilian Institute of Architects – São Paulo Department (IABsp) mourns the passing of architect and landscape architect Kongjian Yu, a global leader in ecological urbanism, and the members of his team who accompanied him, tragically killed during the filming of a documentary. The institute is honored to have had him as a participant in the 14th São Paulo International Architecture Biennial, where his transformative vision strengthened the dialogue between global challenges and local realities. IABsp emphasizes that Yu's contribution, which transcends borders, will remain an inspiration for generations and expresses its condolences to China, to the families of all the deceased, to his friends, and to all those impacted by his genius and dedication. Read the full note here.