Art Fund Pavilion Competition, Architecture, Design, Image, Winner, News

The Art Fund Pavilion Architecture Competition

Tina Manis Associates Wins Contest for The Lightbox, London, UK

Art Fund Museum of the Year Shortlist – 10 May 2016

Art Fund Pavilion News Update

Construction postponed to Spring 2010, going straight to the Lightbox and therefore not being used by Tent London for this September’s London Design Festival

13 Aug 2009

Art Fund Pavilion

Art Fund Pavilion : Competition Winner – Tina Manis Associates, USA
6 Apr 2009

The design approach for the Art Fund Pavilion project was to meet the demands of the program: complex interaction with artwork, the intimacy of discourse, and the inclusiveness of social gathering, by opening and elevating what would be the typical ‘art box’ into a dynamic and interactive art container.

Through a simple strategy to ‘split’ a single floor plane into a series of ramps, a new interior topography was created which also serves as the primary structural ‘pattern’ for the building. The pattern is mirrored at the ceiling plane, oriented to the two key entries of the Lightbox site and then flipped to create a reciprocal series of planes at the ceiling.

The resultant structure engages the public through its diverse perspectives and experiences, from the circulation on platforms at varying levels to the fans of light that allow viewers to gaze out from the inside and vice versa. The visitors are invited to develop a relationship with the art while also engaging with the surrounding environment.

Art Fund Pavilion Competition Shortlist

18 Mar 2009

Tent London and The Lightbox are delighted to announce the shortlist for
The Art Fund Pavilion architecture competition. The competition received an overwhelming level of interest with over 600 entries from 52 countries, including Columbia, Georgia and Iran.

Applicants were asked to design a semi-permanent pavilion, which will serve as additional gallery space for The Lightbox. The museum and gallery, which is already housed in a RIBA Award-winning building by Marks Barfield Architects, have decided to mark their award of the £100,000 Art Fund Prize by investing in architecture again by initiating and financing this competition.

The Art Fund Pavilion Competition entries were reviewed by an elite panel of judges that included the Director of The Architecture Foundation, Sarah Ichioka and the Turner-Prize nominated artist, Richard Wilson.

Art Fund Pavilion Architecture Competition – Shortlisted Entries:

– AREA [Architecture Research Athens], Greece
– Feix & Merlin Architects with Martin Stockley Associates, UK
– IN & EDIT Architecture, France
– Karim Muallem, UK
– Tina Manis Associates, USA

The shortlisted entries and other applications that demonstrate the range of work submitted to the competition will be exhibited at The Lightbox from 31 March – 12 April 2009 and the winner will be announced on the 6 April 2009.

The winning entry will be engineered and constructed by Facit and shown as part of Tent London during the London Design Festival 2009, before taking up residence at The Lightbox.

Art Fund Pavilion Architecture Competition Shortlist, alphabetical:

AREA, Greece

“We believe that good architecture operates within the given parameters to transform abstract building systems into specific material investigations. Projects acquire meaning when they relate to their site and their community, both through form and program. We see the Art Fund Pavilion as an important opportunity to offer its community a new place of exploration and social enjoyment.” AREA

Feix&Merlin, UK

“The Lightbox have created a fantastic opportunity for a wonderful piece of micro-architecture, and we hope to give them a pavilion that is high impact but low-cost, one that is sustainable and efficient in its use of materials, flexible in its architecture, and ultimately a pavilion that has a bit of magic about it, a bit of intrigue, and almost certainly some naughtiness.” Feix&Merlin Architects with Martin Stockley Associates

IN & EDIT, France

“The Art Fund Pavilion competition has been a great opportunity for IN&EDIT to pursue our reflections on postindustrialized sustainable issues. By using continuous variations on a standard pattern, we propose to use the full possibilities of a computerized controlled process: optimized wood cutting allowing each piece to be different. The assembly of the pre-mounted elements like a 3D puzzle, will reveal a sustainable, ludic, inviting, segmented and yet a continuous structure.” IN & EDIT Architecture

Karim Muallem, UK

“Complexity in design need not be always in the complexity of the form but rather in the complexity of its responsiveness. Clever designs are not always about the elaborateness of the shape but rather in there adaptability. The idea was to start with a simple unassertive compact box, and through a process of responsive transformation triggered by crowd movement and function alterations end up with a highly adaptable and exiting form.” Karim Muallem

Tina Manis Associates, USA

“It’s difficult to ignore the global scale of financial crisis that engulfs us at this time. And in this particularly rich time of global economic shifts, architecture and creative thinking has the opportunity to be at its highest. Often, conflict coincides with true invention and in order to make the most of these moments, we should return to the elemental disciplines in life that make it wonderful; such as art.” Tina Manis Associates

Art Fund Pavilion Architecture Competition Judges – Quotes

“The unprecedented level of interest in this competition may be attributed to a global slowdown being experienced by many professional practices and the special interest associated with the prospect of designing a public building/space, be it even a small public space – a definite tick box on most architects list of dream projects.”
Jimmy MacDonald, Tent London

“When we established this competition, we hoped it would stimulate interest from designers, but hardly imagined that it would receive this kind of global recognition. It is also wonderful that professionals take The Lightbox seriously and want to be involved with our award-winning building.”
Marilyn Scott, Director, The Lightbox

“Along with the other members of the jury, I was impressed by entrants’ rigour and inventiveness in meeting the competition brief, and I am particularly delighted that the shortlisted entries represent a wide range of international practice.”
Sarah Ichioka, Director, The Architecture Foundation

“The response to this competition – a really imaginative use of The Art Fund Prize by The Lightbox – has been astonishing, both for the number and variety of entries and their creativity. It was difficult to select just five, and any one of them could be a worthy winner, which makes the task of making the final choice a real challenge. One thing is for sure – whichever design is chosen, The Art Fund Pavilion is going to be a new jewel in the crown won for Woking by The Lightbox.”
David Barrie, Director, The Art Fund

“The Facit team was really impressed with the quality of applicants for The Art Fund Pavilion. The shortlisted entries cover a wide variety of methods to which our system can be applied. This has been a great opportunity for us to see how others interpret our design approach to CNC technology in architecture. The five finalists illustrate the diversity to which our system can be applied, and we look forward to producing the winning structure.”
Dominic McLausland, Facit

Art Fund Pavilion Architecture Competition information from the Architecture Foundation Mar 2009

Tiananmen Square Contest

Whitechapel Gallery Building

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

AA Summer Pavilion

squatcity design competition

Art Fund Pavilion – Information from the Competition Winner

TINA MANIS ASSOCIATES shortlisted for Art Fund Pavilion in London, UK

Release from Tina Manis Associates 18 Mar 2009

The Art Fund Pavilion open competition presented by Tent London and the Lightbox, has publicly selected Tina Manis Associates’ submission as one of its five shortlisted projects. The annual competition, sponsored by the Lightbox Museum’s £100,000 Art Fund Prize, brought in over 600 hundred submissions from 52 countries for a semi-permanent pavilion.

TMA’s entry was the only selected finalist representing the United States. The winner’s Pavilion will be engineered and constructed by Facit and shown as part of Tent London during the London Design Festival 2009, before taking up residence at The Lightbox as additional gallery space.

Art Fund Pavilion – Entry
Sjölander da Cruz Architects

The pavilion embraces its context and invites people into its volume with a series of physically and visually permeable facades. Physical continuity is provided through each end of the structure; one end at a ‘human scale’ which relates to the access of the Lightbox gallery; and the other provides a point of departure from the confines of enclosure to the openness of the greater context.

The dynamic roof and wall lines create a graduating perception of scale, enclosure and ultimately shelter. Openings within the walls and roof are flexible, allowing adaptation for visual interaction between the open and enclosed space; accommodation of large art works; and the creation of a bespoke pavilion tailored to the needs of each site.

An integrated lighting system provides the flexible performance required and creates a warm glow from inside to out, through an enveloping translucent recycled plastic skin.

Location: London, England, UK