Sustainability takes shape through experiences as much as materials. Dayuan Design’s Glacier Project, created in collaboration with ocean conservation nonprofit N.O.C., transforms this idea into an immersive exhibition that reveals the deep connection between glaciers, oceans, and urban life. Through interactive spatial design, the project encourages visitors to see environmental challenges not as distant issues, but as part of their everyday world.
Under the theme Resonance of the Extremes, the project transforms climate change from a distant environmental issue into a tangible spatial experience, inviting visitors to reflect on the interconnected relationship between human actions and natural systems.
Interprets Climate Change Through Spatial Design
Drawing inspiration from the hidden structure of icebergs, Glacier Project introduces nine suspended geometric forms into Shanghai’s urban landscape. While the visible portion represents only a fraction of an iceberg, the installation reminds visitors of the much larger systems that remain unseen. Instead of presenting climate change through statistics or digital displays, Dayuan Design creates an interactive environment where visitors physically engage with the installation.
Pulling suspended elements causes the overhead structures to fold and distort, illustrating how even small human actions can trigger broader environmental consequences. The experience transforms climate change from something observed into something personally felt.
Uses Sustainable Materials That Respond to Nature
Reflecting Dayuan Design’s commitment to sustainable practice, the installation employs a modular system designed for disassembly, transportation, and reuse. Recycled metal, discarded waterproof fabric, mirrored stainless steel, and lightweight structural frames create a composition that evolves with light, weather, and movement. Perforated metal panels reference the pores and retreating edges of melting glaciers, while white membranes preserve the visual presence of suspended ice.
Rain is not treated as an obstacle but as an active design element that flows naturally through the structure, producing subtle sounds that reinforce the connection among glaciers, urban water systems, and natural climate cycles.
Public Installation Integrates Everyday Reflection
The public installation extends beyond the outdoor installation through Flowing Glacier, a tabletop artwork that translates the experience into a more intimate scale. Crafted from traditional Chinese liuli glass and animated by backflow incense, the piece visualizes the slow movement of cold air and glacial melt through descending smoke.
The irreversible flow of the smoke symbolizes the ongoing loss of glaciers, encouraging quiet contemplation through everyday rituals of lighting, observing, and waiting. By combining cultural craftsmanship with environmental storytelling, preserve cultural heritage while raising ecological awareness.
The Exhibition Connects People and Nature
Developed with N.O.C., the exhibition expands the installation into a carefully curated narrative exploring glaciers, oceans, and climate change. Organized into four chapters that include Encounter, Remains, Listening, and Resonance, the exhibition guides visitors through visual installations, documentary films, artifacts, immersive soundscapes, and interactive displays.
Each section gradually reduces the emotional and physical distance between people and polar environments, encouraging visitors to recognize their role within interconnected ecological systems. The overall design fosters lasting awareness by transforming distant environmental challenges into personal, sensory experiences that resonate long after the visit.
Glacier Project Details
Project: Glacier Project – Sustainable Exhibition and Spatial Installation
Location: Shanghai, China
Category: Exhibition Design
Project Owner: N.O.C.
Spatial Design: Dayuan Design
Art Curation: Dayuan Design
Art Installation: Dayuan Design
Construction: Dihua Art Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.; Shanghai Mingshuntu Enterprise Management Co., Ltd.
Area: 160 sqm
Photography: © XUEQING; © sesawu
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