Two giant digital origami tigers will playfully celebrate Chinese New Year of the Tiger on the forecourt of Sydney’s Customs House from 11 February – 14 March 2010. The
 Chinese
 or 
Lunar New
 Year 
is 
the
 most 
important 
Chinese 
holiday
 and traditionally 
starts 
with 
a 
Lantern
 Festival.
 The giant digital origami tigers fuse ancient lantern making methods with cutting edge design and fabrication technology, bringing tradition and innovation, east and west together.

Having grown up in Europe far away from my roots in South-East Asia, I am excited and proud about this beautiful way to welcome the Year of the Tiger in Australia. The City of Sydney truly embraces the Chinese New Year with the biggest Lunar New Year celebration outside of Asia, from mouth-watering culinary events to enriching activities and creative spaces across town.

Commissioned by Customs House to raise awareness about the endangered status of tigers in this Year of the Tiger, the crouching tigers were designed by multinational Laboratory 
for Visionary
 Architecture 
(LAVA). Inspired by “zhezhi”, Chinese for paper folding more popularly known by its Japanese name “origami”, each tiger is in the size of a truck at 2.5 metres high and 7 metres long at a weight of only 200kgs. I have to give the guys creds for always having sustainability in mind by using fully recyclable materials, aluminium and barrisol. The big cats will be brought to life with low energy LED lighting.

“We
 also
 believe
 that 
humour
 belongs 
to 
architecture 
too,
 and
 so 
the 
tigers are 
playing 
soccer 
to 
kick 
off 
the
 FIFA 
world 
cup
 starting 
later 
this 
year,”
 said
 Chris
 Bosse, 
Australian
 director
 of 
LAVA and previous mecho guest blogger.



“The
 design 
concept 
for 
the
 giant 
tigers
 evolved
 from
 digital 
origami Tasmanian
 tigers 
that 
we 
developed
 with 
architecture 
students
 in Launceston 
last 
year.
 These 
thylacines 
took
 over 
Tasmania
 during
 the 
Ten days 
on 
the 
Island 
Festival 
and
 then 
turned
 up 
in
 Malaysia
 as
 part 
of
 the
 inaugural
 KL
 Design
 Week 
last 
May.”



2009 
was 
an 
exciting 
year 
for
 LAVA, 
founded 
in 
2007
 with 
offices 
in
 Sydney, 
Stuttgart
 and
 Abu 
Dhabi.
 
Last year, LAVA won the international competition for the city 
centre 
of 
Masdar
 in
 UAE, 
the
 world’s
 first
 eco-
city and was behind the previous Green 
Void in Sydney’s Customs House.

Gong Hei Fat Choy! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Concept image and sketch of a tiger unfolded

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