Competition entry, 2012.
Collaboration with Lee Altman.
Conceived as part of City of Dreams Pavilion competition, this design for a temporary pavilion to be erected on Governors Island aimed to address transformation and adaptability of cities based on ecological, economic and demographic inputs. It promotes user adaptions and alterations over time and considers the full life cycle of materials and ideas, encouraging the public to engage in its creation and its life after being disassembled.
Competition Text
(the city is) WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT
Populations shift quickly, cities change slowly. To remain relevant, the city of dreams must learn how to lend itself to rapid transformation. The What You Make of It pavilion, challenged by a limited set of pieces, strives for adaptability on different scales.
The pavilion engages the urban community even before breaking ground. Sheets of flashspun fiber fabric will be distributed to 5 high schools in the city, allowing tomorrow’s urban dwellers to communicate their dreams for the city. The sheets are then installed as the pavilion’s canopy, displaying the imagined cities to its visitors.
Salvaged wood from floors and scaffolding is fastened in place to create the armature for the pavilion. It supports the roof, directs visitors, and provides curated views of the art and performance in and around the pavilion, as well as the distant and familiar skyline.
Event organizers, curators, choreographers, and directors can alter the ground plane, using a simple contrasting grid to direct traffic, focus attention and embrace variety. Like all elements of the pavilion, the floor is a floor for only part of its lifecycle: born as automobile tires, it only rests in the pavilion, before being donated towards construction of safe playgrounds.
Our resources are growing scarce, while demand increases. The pavilion balances physical demand and the abstracts needs of individuals for interaction and stimuli. Sustaining life and art are crucial to the evolution of cities and communities – can we really live in cities that don’t provide for both body and mind?