The Vault of Heaven was presented in the China Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. The installation is hung from the roof of an historical building in Venice Arsenal and is composed of 3 layers of structures that interact with each other. Its framing system is made of aluminum plates and profiles assembled as units. A series of concentric cable networks serves as support for a multitude of characters hanging inside the Vault. Those cables have also been designed to stabilize the whole structure while the top and bottom layers are rotating.

For the development of the installation, Karamba3D served as the main structural analysis software. Its integration with Grasshopper and parametric processes enabled the engineers to study and explore many different configurations for the vault structure. The team investigated multiple design options to identify the most suitable and efficient solution that met all key requirements: a lightweight system appropriate for suspension within the historic structure of the Venice Arsenal, and a clean structural layout that provided a clear force flow, enabling accurate deflection prediction and stable, symmetric behaviour under the kinetic loading.

Karamba3D was integrated into the project from its earliest stages, providing the team with precise structural weight estimations which was crucial for the project. It was used to validate structural schemes and supported discussions with both the artist and the fabrication team. This workflow enabled the team to perform analyses quickly and with confidence that the proposed designs were structurally sound, feasible, and compliant with all requirements for easy fabrication and installation.

The structure consists of a layered aluminum frame wrapped in green mesh and supported by a network of 3 mm suspension cables. Inside, multiple cable nets are arranged in concentric levels, with individual mesh pieces hung from each layer to form the full vaulted shape