FILTER Times Square pavilion New York City, EMIT NYCxDesign Festival, Manhattan Architecture

FILTER Times Square pavilion New York

April 28, 2022

CLB Architects and EMIT present FILTER at Design Pavilion / NYCxDesign Festival

The steel and wood pavilion will be on view in Times Square, NYC from May 7-15

Design: CLB Architects

Rendering of FILTER in the heart of Times Square, NYC:

image : CLB Architects

New York, NY, April 26, 2022 –– Created for Design Pavilion and the NYCxDesign Festival, FILTER carves out space for quiet recentering within the frenetic energy of Times Square. Designed as both a monumental object and an ephemeral experience, the pavilion establishes a new node in the heart of New York City’s urban fabric – reorienting that experience toward the natural, rather than the man-made. Evoking the rugged Wyoming landscape from which it originates, FILTER draws the visitor into an engagement of its flowing folds of weathered steel and timber. At the pavilion’s center, a lone tree embodies the ecological cycles and serves as a counterpoint to the Manhattan’s urbanity.

Designed by CLB Architects, the pavilion’s chapel-like design facilitates a new understanding of place, providing each occupant the chance to explore their own relationship with the natural world. The structure’s concept began as a simple diagram – a folded sheet of paper, carefully sliced, and able to stand on its own. Eric Logan, Partner at CLB, translated this exercise into full-scale existence through a design composed of a series of standard-sized, half-inch hot-rolled steel plates, or “chaps,” arranged to form a 24-foot diameter, 20-foot-tall ellipsoid.

FILTER, located between West 46th and 47th Streets at Times Square, appears to be a foreign object. Fluid shards of naturally-weathered steel invite close inspection, and a gentle ramp leads around the perimeter, offering views of the space held within. The noise, bustling crowds, and glaring lights of the city are filtered out, and the newly-centered visitor is left in solitude, inhabiting the urban “pause.” As Logan explains, the structure presents “an offering, it [FILTER] changes the environment and creates its own.” A bench of reclaimed fir offcuts is folded into the interior, encircling a live, 20-foot-tall tree. The tree’s dense canopy only partially obscures the sky beyond, inviting occupants to look upward and lose themselves in contemplation.

Each element of the structure was designed with attention to its sustainability, portability, and longevity, beyond the duration of the NYCxDesign installation. EMIT, based in Sheridan, Wyoming, is responsible for the steel prefabrication and is the exhibit patron. The steel was weathered to develop a protective rust patina evocative of the Rocky Mountain West. The lightly-charred and textured timber elements were crafted from salvaged Glulam beams by Spearhead, sustainable wood technologists based in British Columbia.

These systematized and structurally self-supporting components were first sent to Greeley, Colorado for test assembly, and then disassembled and shipped to New York City to be erected by New York-based contractors Dowbuilt. Utah-based Helius oversaw lighting design, incorporating fixtures by B-K Lighting and coordinating with New York-based contractors Apollo Electric. An organic Exclamation Plane tree, donated by Raemelton Farm in Adamstown, Maryland, completes the design.

Following the closure of the NYCxDesign festival, the tree will be donated to the New York City non-profit The Battery Conservancy, and the pavilion will be carefully disassembled and transported back to Wyoming to continue its life as a public sculpture at EMIT’s headquarters and enjoyed for generations to come. When it completes its cycle and reaches its final resting point in Sheridan, FILTER’s patina will reflect the accumulations of both dry western air and East Coast salinity. Forging connections across geography and intimately centered on occupant experience, FILTER makes a place of its own.

Free and open to the public, FILTER will be open daily, May 7-15, 2022, from 11:00am – 9:00pm.

FILTER Times Square pavilion New York City – Building Information

FILTER Project Team / Sponsors
CLB Architects (Architect)
EMIT (Exhibit Patron, Steel Supplier and Fabricator)
Spearhead (Wood Supplier and Wood Fabricator)
Dowbuilt (Builder)
KL&A, Inc. (Structural Engineer)

HELIUS (Lighting Designer)
B-K Lighting (Light Fixture Provider)
Raemelton Farm (Tree Provider)
Apollo Electric (Lighting Contractor)

CLB Architects

CLB is an architecture and interior design firm based in the Rocky Mountain West, and specializing in the design of residential, commercial, and arts related projects. Since the firm’s founding 30 years ago in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, CLB has evolved to now encompass projects across the United States.

Each endeavor is guided with the firm’s philosophy – inspired by place. With offices in Jackson, Wyoming and Bozeman, Montana, the firm has grown to a staff of 50, led by partners Eric Logan, Kevin Burke, Andy Ankeny and Darcey Prichard. The firm’s work has recently been documented in the book, Inspired by Place, which was published by ORO Editions. www.clbarchitects.com

EMIT

EMIT Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2000 and from the beginning, set out to design, engineer, think critically, work their tails off and most importantly, build! With facilities in Sheridan, Wyoming and Greeley, Colorado, EMIT produces a high mix of solutions leveraging their Material Processing, Fabrication, Coatings and Mechanical/Electronics Assembly talents that carry to multiple industries. They build Catalytic Converters, Commercial Buildings, Conveyor Systems, Engine Control Systems, Automotive Accessories and so much more. www.emittechnologies.com

Design Pavilion

Design Pavilion is New York’s Premier Public Design Exhibition, showcasing exciting and important design innovations about our future to a mass audience of millions including local businesses, design industry professionals, and local and international consumers.

Design Pavilion is host to a series of experiential installations featuring established and emerging designers, architects, brands, and visionaries from around the world. Their messages on the future are further supported by more in-depth discussion by thought leaders at the Design Talks NOW. www.design-pavilion.com

NYCxDESIGN

NYCxDESIGN is a not-for-profit organization committed to empowering and promoting the city’s diverse creative community. NYCxDESIGN organizes exceptional year-round programming, including its annual international festival.

At NYCxDESIGN, our mission is to support, empower, and grow the city’s incredible design sector. The festival attracts 300,000+ national and international visitors to the city, generating significant economic activity across the boroughs with hundreds of events about design and innovation, creativity, culture, inclusivity, sustainability, and resiliency. Diversity, purpose, cultural placemaking, economic opportunity, and creativity are core to the not-for-profit’s values. www.nycxdesign.com

FILTER Times Square pavilion New York City images / information received 280422

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