Moon Bloom

Moon Bloom centers on the physical and symbolic qualities of the moon, featuring a spiral moongate that harvests rainwater for irrigation, enriched by diaspora voices, including the newly arrived Hong Kong community. Designed to signify the Moon Festival in a London town center, it reinterprets a classical moongate as a flowing spiral ribbon, constructed with rotational symmetry for self-support. Tarpaulin sails within the modules channel rainwater into base planters, leveraging the UK's wet climate, which provides over 600L of rainwater per square meter of roof annually. The planting design includes a moonlit moth garden with locally sourced native plants, scented perennials that glow at dusk to attract moths, and diverse flowers supporting pollinators. Evergreen and silvery foliage, grasses, and climbers add texture and movement, creating a rich ecological habitat for birds and insects. Moon Bloom’s social texture emerged through an inclusive participatory process with Sutton’s Hongkonger community and other diaspora groups, who shared their stories on a tarpaulin canvas, transforming individual migrant narratives into a collective experience. The striped tarpaulin, emblematic of Hong Kong’s informal urban landscape, initially served as an engagement medium before being repurposed for rain harvesting and display in the installation.