Sky Pavilion

‘Celebrating peoples’ elementary way of engaging with the sky’

Our proposal for the Sky Pavilion celebrates peoples’ elementary way of engaging with the sky and its elements through the use of the deck chair and the umbrella. Both these are deeply imbedded in British Culture, whether it is enjoying the sky, light clouds and warmth of the sun on a nice British Summer day, or whether you are challenging a grey, drizzly/ windy day in the ever so present British Winter.

The deck chair itself forms the module of construction, securely held by means of wire ties, whereas crucially dropped umbrellas softens and protects. Formally the pavilion 'grows' from a few ordinarily placed deck chairs, facing towards the south sun, thereafter spiralling towards an enclosure, and in this 'movement' exemplifies the 'cycle' of the Sky; from day into night, light into dark, blue into black into grey into orange...... from one day to the next to the next... The cyclic movement of the pavilion is broken at its peak with a 'Sky Slot' which places the visitor to the pavilion in relation to the sky at a specific moment in this cycle, with the sky visible through the slot having a particular aspect for that piece of sky, for that time of the day and whatever the weather may be like in that very moment.

The construction of the pavilion is such that the deck chairs could be loaned from Royal Parks and returned undamaged, or could be bought and sold back to the public once the pavilion is dismantled. It could also be donated if the project is still in budget. Similarly the umbrellas could be bought and sold back to the public. The plastic wire ties are returned for plastic recycling. Therefor no part of the pavilion would be wasted.