Studio Professor: visiting professors Adam Caruso and Peter St John

Studio Theme: “Gardens of Experience” a pavilion for Chiswick Garden, London

The assignment was to design a pavilion for the grounds of Chiswick House in London, England. We were free to choose the location, size and program of the pavilion. I decided to design a structure for the southwest corner of the property in a small forest. The resulting project is an open-air pavilion for multiple uses - from music performances to quiet meditation.

The pavilion is constructed mainly of re-purposed timber railway sleepers. These timber elements are stacked to create wall panels, which are then placed in a staggered configuration in order to leave gaps between the walls. This allows the infiltration of daylight. The structure is composed of two horizontal layers of equal height: the lower layer of the staggered walls, and an upper layer composed of deep horizontal beams joining in a T-configuration. Partitions are formed by these deep beams above. This creates a unique sense of space below, which changes according to where one is situated within the pavilion.

In addition to daylight entering through the staggered walls, several openings are arranged to give users views out into the forest. Viewing the landscape from the dark interior of the pavilion enhances one’s sense of light and color in the surrounding forest, lending a particularly extroverted atmosphere to the space.