A team of students from Yale's School of Architecture has shared with us their pavilion project which acted as the ticket and information booth at the New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas this June. The pavilion was designed, built, and fund-raised this spring and summer in the 'Assembly' seminar led by faculty member Brennan Buck. The seminar sought to explore the relationship between digital design and fabrication on the one hand and public engagement and visual dynamism on the other.

Here's the project description we've received from the students:

A pavilion for the International Festival of Arts and Ideas opened on Friday, June 15 on the New Haven Green as the product of the ‘Assembly’ seminar led by faculty member Brennan Buck. Thirteen students and teaching assistant Teoman Ayas completed the design work during the spring semester, with fabrication and assembly following in the early weeks of summer.

All fabrication work was completed in the school’s metal shop, with 350 sheets of .05” aluminum cut on the plasma cutter.  A combination of tab and rivet connections held together 26 wall and roof ‘cells’ which were then transported and assembled on site in two days.

At roughly 300 square feet, the pavilion served as the information and ticket booth for the festival, one of only two structures that remained on the Green for the duration of the annual 15-day Festival.  In addition to housing volunteer staff, the pavilion became a meeting place for various tours organized by the Festival and an iconic symbol for this years’ program.

The seminar, and the engagement with both the Festival and the sponsors, is the result of a student initiative that began in Fall 2010.  At that time, MArch II students David Bench, Zachary Heaps, Jacqueline Ho, and Eric Zahn sought to create a design-build project that would serve as a counterpoint to the long-running Vlock Building Project (which MArch II students do not participate in).

The pavilion was designed as a visual experience for visitors on the Green, as from different vantage points it would appear either as completely opaque or totally transparent.   The performative qualities of the object were enhanced by the reflections produced by the mill-finished aluminum, as the thousands of facets reflected both the environment and an a paint gradient applied to interior edges.

Project Credits:

The Festival Pavilion was designed and built by Yale School of Architecture students.
Project Founders: David Bench, Zac Heaps, Jacqueline Ho, Eric Zahn
Project Managers: Jacqueline Ho, Amy Mielke
Design & Fabrication: John Taylor Bachman, Nicholas Hunt, Seema Kairam, John Lacy, Veer Nanavatty
Design: Rob Bundy, Raven Hardison, Matt Hettler
Faculty advisor: Brennan Buck
Assistant: Teoman Ayas
Consultant: Matthew Clark of Arup, New York

Generous support was provided by Assa Abloy, the Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate, and the Yale School of Architecture.

All photos by Chris Morgan Photography.