Art Pavillion / Cre8 Architecture

Our friend Pierre Forissier, from Cre8 Architecture, shared with us their entry for the Art Fund Pavillion Competition London 2009.

“Panelion” was selected as an exception entry and will be exhibited at The Lightbox London.

More images and architect’s description, after the break.

Concept

The concept of the pavilion is to experiment with a developmental pattern in the evolution of an organism, to let spontaneous forces go without mediation. This results into an organic structure that wraps itself with a protective membrane. The skin (i.e. membrane) reveals life from the skeleton.

The pavilion is now one creature dipped in the real bio mass. The inside glow (i.e. internal lighting) reveals a pulsating organism into the night. The permanent incompletion is the evolutionary change that rejects the idea of a prediction about its form of growth

Technical – wood frame & reactive skin

The structure of the pavilion is a plywood frame assembled into ribs-like elements. The base structure of the pavilion is a 200mm x 400mm perpendicular grid. Ribs depth & thickness are integral and adjustable parameters of the model and adjust according to constrains (evolutionary change).

Each rib is a flat panel on a vertical plane (world z axis). All elements are planar & parallel on each x or y axis. Therefore all ribs intersect perpendicularly. Each element is given a unique id. The structure can be sent straight to digital production and cnc technology with all connections also cnc routed. Once all the pieces are cut, units can be preassembled in factory.

The reactive skin is a high-tech teflon membrane protecting the structure designed to react to changing light conditions. Its primary element is a honeycomb cell that optimises wrapping capabilities and semi-rigidity. It is flexible, wraps like a cloth, and can be folded.”