The DRL Ten pavilion was once again under the spotlight today at the Architectural Association (AA), on the occasion of a roundtable discussion. The event brought together the project team to share their experiences designing, engineering, fabricating, and building the pavilion.
It was remarked early on that this was the first time that representatives of all the task teams came together around the same table — a sign of the vicissitudes imposed on this initiative by budget struggles, a tight deadline, and a dependence on voluntary work by participants with other obligations. The pavilion was an initiative of the tutors of the Design Research Laboratory, a graduate program within the AA, and counted on the support and commitment of a large group of people.
AA director Brett Steele opened the session explaining the significance of this built experiment and learning experience for the AA school and the DRL in particular. DRL tutor and project coordinator Yusuke Obuchi then gave background information, first about the competition that led to the chosen design, then about the construction process and some of the complications it brought about. Pavilion designer Alan Dempsey followed with a commentary of the design development — particularly the time constraint which limited the refinement of the design. Head engineer Hanif Kara of Adams Kara Taylor placed the pavilion at the focus of his plea to bring architectural education and construction education together. He was followed by Reuben Brambleby and Jugatx Ansotegui (both AKT engineers), who gave accounts of the calculations, testing, and detailing carried out to develop the design. Wolfgang Rieder, owner of the company that manufactured the primary building material (fibreC) presented some of their recent work and current capabilities; he also manifested his enthusiasm for new initiatives such as the DRL Ten Pavilion. Next, site manager Joao Bravo da Costa spoke about the construction process, voicing over a time-lapse video recording that condenses the 5-week site activity into a 6-minute clip. He emphasized the challenges faced by the construction team (essentially a group of students turned building contractor team). This commentary was completed by Max, a current DRL student who took part in the construction.
DRL tutors and pavilion initiators Patrik Schumacher, Theo Spyropoulos, and Tom Verebes added some thoughts and remarks to the discussion, which centered on the role that initiatives like the DRL Ten Pavilion can have in architectural education.
The DRL Ten Pavilion was designed by DRL alumni Alan Dempsey and Alvin Huang, who won a competition initiated by the DRL tutors. It was built by students under the direction of tutor Yusuke Obuchi, with materials donated by Rieder of Austria, and expert support by Adams Kara Taylor engineers, who also contributed financially. Further donations were made by Zaha Hadid Architects, Icon magazine, and others. Philips provided lighting and Reza Nobakht offered surveying services.
