Tourist attraction
Bamboo Pagoda
Thirteen metres of bamboo rising from the shore of Sai Van Lake, this temporary octagonal pavilion turned Macau's heritage craft of bamboo scaffolding into a quiet viewpoint suspended over the water.
The story
Bamboo scaffolding entered Macau's Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017, and this week-long installation in October 2026 took that craft as its starting point. Organised by Ephemera Public Space Cooperative, with João Ó and Rita Machado of Impromptu Projects as design consultants and Seng Kei Pang Chong raising the scaffolding, the tapered pagoda took around a week to build and stood beside the Military Club tennis courts. Its octagonal form refers to balance, nature and Daoism. The bamboo was reclaimed from earlier construction sites, the floor was made with tea waste, and solar panels powered the spotlights. Conceived as a place to pause in one of the world's most densely populated cities, it offered passers-by a slower view of the waterfront that has shaped Macau's growth.