8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium

8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium
8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Exterior Photography, Windows, Facade
© Benjamin Wells / Medium

8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Interior Photography, Wood, Brick, Facade, Column8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Exterior Photography, Windows, Brick8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Interior Photography8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Interior Photography, Facade, Column, Courtyard8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - More Images+ 34

  • Architects: Medium
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  12
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2020
  • Photographs
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  AutoDesk, ALL-P Metal, Bentley Systems, Zviad Chachanidze
  • Lead Architects: Camille Filbien, Benjamin Wells, Francis Naydler, Jacob Sturdy
  • Construction: ALL-P Metal, Zviad Chachanidze
  • Design Team: Camille Filbien, Benjamin Wells, Francis Naydler, Jacob Sturdy
  • Clients: Tbilisi
  • Local Coordination: Nikusha Lomidze
  • Curator: Tbilisi
  • City: Tiflis
  • Country: Georgia
More SpecsLess Specs

Text description provided by the architects. 8-23-VI is a monochromatic pavilion designed for the residents of entrance VI, Block 23, in the 8th district of Gldani - a vast Soviet-built housing district in Tbilisi, Georgia. Commissioned as part of a collaboration with the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial, 8-23-VI utilises the temporal format of the biennial to catalyse a permanent and public pavilion, with a perimeter of rotating panels that mediate between public and private territories. 

8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Interior Photography, Facade, Column
© Benjamin Wells / Medium
8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Interior Photography, Facade, Column
© Benjamin Wells / Medium

Designed by architecture collective Medium, 8-23-VI connects the semi-private circulation space of Block 23 with the surrounding public exterior by extending and activating the threshold between them. In the context of Gldani’s planned but since neglected public realm, the project re-activates this space as a common ground for collective use, questioning norms of ownership and individuality that have emerged in post-Soviet Georgia. 

Section AA

A continuous surface of rotating panels allows the pavilion to be transformed from a private room - an extension of the block’s domestic interiors - to a more open and negotiable public space. The pavilion’s folding walls redefine this relationship between public-private as ambiguous and fluid. By inviting transformation and interaction, the pavilion’s rotating panels echo the strategies of appropriation evident in Gldani’s many self-built garages and extensions, but reframes them as a collective practice. 

8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Interior Photography
© Benjamin Wells / Medium

A bespoke ball-bearing mechanism enables each panel to rotate around a fixed column. These panels are wrapped in proprietary corrugated roofing, tapering towards each corner to form handles with which each panel can be pushed or pulled. The pavilion utilises everyday and familiar materials, but elevates them through their composition and assembly.

8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Interior Photography
© Benjamin Wells / Medium

An undulating blockwork and timber plinth traces the perimeter of the pavilion, marking it as a threshold to be inhabited in multiple ways. A central opening to the sky reinforces this edge, and the shifting heights of the plinth invites varying forms of adaptation and use.

8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Interior Photography, Facade, Handrail
© Benjamin Wells / Medium

8-23-VI questions public-private binaries to establish a new common ground for Block 23, with an architectural medium that embraces transformation and collectivity.

8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium - Exterior Photography, Windows, Facade
© Benjamin Wells / Medium

Project gallery

See allShow less

Project location

Address:Tbilisi, Georgia

Click to open map
Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "8-23-VI Pavilion / Medium" 26 Jan 2020. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/932380/8-23-vi-pavilion-medium> ISSN 0719-8884

© Benjamin Wells / Medium

8-23-VI红色岗亭 / Medium

You've started following your first account!

Did you know?

You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.