A pavilion that is saved, just when it was being demolished. A park in three dimensions, different from those that are usually projected, where context proceeds concept.

 

The idea was to recognize the architectural value of the remains of the pavilion in the incomplete state in which they had been left. It was to remain as it was, somewhere between open space and finished building. The boundary between the interior and the exterior is blurred; there are trees in the center of the building, as well as street lamps set up in empty rooms.

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The public space is broken down into the different levels that make up the existing building. New steel structure, painted in the particular green familiar from dVVT’s work, holds the pavilion in place and imposes lightness on a structure that was once primarily monolithic. Given that the pavilion was already open to the elements, the suggestion manages to creatively stabilize the structure to prevent further deterioration.

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This gives place to many examples of the unpredictable solutions that find their way into many of dVVT’s projects, where errors or surprises on site become the source of new and intriguing elements of their projects. Here, much of the repair leads to strange material juxtapositions that would be very difficult to justify in a fully worked out design. These stabilizing elements are similar to the ones find in ruins, with the sole purpose of preventing decline, and whose contrasting unions nevertheless give great aesthetic pleasure.

 

There is a clear contrast between the context of the obsolete ruin and the highly developed programme of the more contemporary buildings on the site. There are buildings-within-buildings, greenhouses that might also be meeting rooms, spaces that suggest that all these fragmentary elements could become something potentially functional.

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De Vylder Vinck Taillieu’s Venice Biennale Freespace exhibition primarily featured the Caritas project, which in itself is in a state of flux and subject to alteration and redevelopment over time. Freespace was defined as a space for opportunity, a democratic space, un-programmed and free for future uses.

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The openness to unplanned activity here extends to continue working on the project, potentially also encompassing other disused buildings on the site, and a commitment to a certain experimental methodology that is never easily achieved, but here seems like the next logical step to follow. 

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+ Bibliography

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https://www.miesarch.com/work/4113 Photos, drawings and plans

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https://vimeo.com/277997316 Interview with Gideon Boie

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https://vimeo.com/277421614 Premi Europeu de l’Espai Públic Urbà 2018

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQfhBOSecNo Jan De Vylder lecture: Some ideas that are always around in our projects 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yfT2RbIx90 Jan De Vylder lecture: References

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r4prlDOGng Biennale Architettura 2018

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