wings alex haw
concept & inspiration
Pavilions are all about flux, movement, change; fleeting, evanescent structures challenging the stability and endurance of traditional architecture. Why on earth should they stand still? The word for pavilion comes from the French word for butterfly – papillon – and our proposal pays tribute to that very structure, the butterfly, whose phenomenally lightweight wings and extraordinary luminescent photonics have inspired branches of structural, chemical and electrical engineering.
bits of kits
In some old cultures, butterflies also symbolise rebirth into a new life after being inside a cocoon for a period of time. Our proposal provides a supremely lightweight kit of parts that allow not only rapid assembly, but rapid re-assembly and re-configuration. The erected pavilion constantly rebuilds itself – twenty-two kinetic arms on either side of a central spine describe an infinite number of spaces. Dependent on program and purpose of the venue the ribs shrink, expand, swell and contract allowing an ever changing volume tailored to required and desired needs. Spaces can be expanded or subdivided at will to suit any number of programmes; each rib provides a connection on its underside to allow attachment of heavyweight walls or lightweight curtains.
The pavilion is a modular structure built in quadrants, thus facilitating smaller assemblies or docking to local site constraints or buildings; all quadrants can interconnect, or each can be individually omitted, the main structural ribs supported by splayed central rib legs offset by structure of the membrane ribs. The structural ribs express this compartmentalisation, dipping slightly in the centre to accentuate the possible division into a number of useful wings, whilst still allowing the whole space to be unified as a whole.
The structure can be erected as a static sculptural set, or activated as a mechanical kit of parts. The kit can be manually driven, like the awning in front of a shopfront, or computer-controlled with sophisticated feedback mechanisms that could even pre-programme complex sets of movements and animations.
light & weight
Having looked at a range of mechanical systems, we dismissed the more experimental technologies of memory metals, electropolymers, and muscle wire. We felt air muscles would be too large, pneumatics would have a supply and size problem, and since hydraulics tend to be robust and very heavy, we chose an elegant lightweight tensile tendon option using wires as outrigging bracing to minimise the size of all structural members, and wires as antagonistic mechanical forces driving the movements. Each rib is a tripartite arm supporting the lightweight pattinated PVC roof. The 1st component, attached to the shoulder of the main structural ribs, can be activated in both section and plan, splaying or compressing the pavilion. The middle component then controls the degree of arched volume, whist the latter determine the pavilion’s overall extension and the spatiality of its perimeter, its bifurcation aiding stability.
Waterproof sacs sewn into the membrane are filled with water as temporary ballast to hold it down and prevent wind uplift. The perimeter of the membrane can be tagged down to the boardwalk. The lower flaps can be unzipped and rolled up to allow ventilation or pedestrian penetration at any point and full access through the lower wall, completely opening up the pavilion to the climate outside. We imagine the pavilion might develop a small wardrobe: a winter coats, a summer slip, something to stp the drowning
sound of the falling rain and something for noisy public occasions using significant noise-attenuation. One skin might be mute and monochromatic, another highly coloured and vibrant like the Lepidoptera that inspired it. The pavilion might strip altogether, using only bare structure to mount lights and sun-blinds in addition to the blackout it employs during the day.
Pavilions are all about flux, movement, change; fleeting, evanescent structures challenging the stability and endurance of traditional architecture. Why on earth should they stand still? The word for pavilion comes from the French word for butterfly – papillon – and our proposal pays tribute to that very structure, the butterfly, whose phenomenally lightweight wings and extraordinary luminescent photonics have inspired branches of structural, chemical and electrical engineering.
bits of kits
In some old cultures, butterflies also symbolise rebirth into a new life after being inside a cocoon for a period of time. Our proposal provides a supremely lightweight kit of parts that allow not only rapid assembly, but rapid re-assembly and re-configuration. The erected pavilion constantly rebuilds itself – twenty-two kinetic arms on either side of a central spine describe an infinite number of spaces. Dependent on program and purpose of the venue the ribs shrink, expand, swell and contract allowing an ever changing volume tailored to required and desired needs. Spaces can be expanded or subdivided at will to suit any number of programmes; each rib provides a connection on its underside to allow attachment of heavyweight walls or lightweight curtains.
The pavilion is a modular structure built in quadrants, thus facilitating smaller assemblies or docking to local site constraints or buildings; all quadrants can interconnect, or each can be individually omitted, the main structural ribs supported by splayed central rib legs offset by structure of the membrane ribs. The structural ribs express this compartmentalisation, dipping slightly in the centre to accentuate the possible division into a number of useful wings, whilst still allowing the whole space to be unified as a whole.
The structure can be erected as a static sculptural set, or activated as a mechanical kit of parts. The kit can be manually driven, like the awning in front of a shopfront, or computer-controlled with sophisticated feedback mechanisms that could even pre-programme complex sets of movements and animations.
light & weight
Having looked at a range of mechanical systems, we dismissed the more experimental technologies of memory metals, electropolymers, and muscle wire. We felt air muscles would be too large, pneumatics would have a supply and size problem, and since hydraulics tend to be robust and very heavy, we chose an elegant lightweight tensile tendon option using wires as outrigging bracing to minimise the size of all structural members, and wires as antagonistic mechanical forces driving the movements. Each rib is a tripartite arm supporting the lightweight pattinated PVC roof. The 1st component, attached to the shoulder of the main structural ribs, can be activated in both section and plan, splaying or compressing the pavilion. The middle component then controls the degree of arched volume, whist the latter determine the pavilion’s overall extension and the spatiality of its perimeter, its bifurcation aiding stability.
Waterproof sacs sewn into the membrane are filled with water as temporary ballast to hold it down and prevent wind uplift. The perimeter of the membrane can be tagged down to the boardwalk. The lower flaps can be unzipped and rolled up to allow ventilation or pedestrian penetration at any point and full access through the lower wall, completely opening up the pavilion to the climate outside. We imagine the pavilion might develop a small wardrobe: a winter coats, a summer slip, something to stp the drowning
sound of the falling rain and something for noisy public occasions using significant noise-attenuation. One skin might be mute and monochromatic, another highly coloured and vibrant like the Lepidoptera that inspired it. The pavilion might strip altogether, using only bare structure to mount lights and sun-blinds in addition to the blackout it employs during the day.
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