Report: Swoosh – Summer Pavilion in London
Each year the School of Architecture at London’s Architectural Association sponsors a competition for a summer pavilion to be designed and constructed by students. The most recent project – a latticework comprising about 650 veneer plywood elements – seeks to create dynamic, flowing form employing only rectilinear components. Its geometry is based on a two-dimensional pattern that delineates the sun’s position in the sky as projected on the ground. This structure was translated – via computer – into a 3-D model. Due to its complexity, however, the students went back to tangible detail models to prepare the shop drawings. The pavilion’s floor plan is a point-symmetric double loop wrapped around two fix points. Arches span the space between them above a central passageway. With increasing distance from the centre, the adjacent arches rise higher above the ground, becoming curved, cantilevered ribs. These ribs are made of 51 mm thick boards (see p. 1251). The distance separating them is bridged by 27 mm thick supports.
