This
temporary exhibition pavilion was built during the MEDS,
Meeting of Design Students,
in Ljubljana during August 2012. It was a collaboration by an
interdisciplinary team of 15 students and young graduates from the
MEDS
community and 2 representatives of project sponsor DamaHaus,
a Slovenian construction firm. The team was led by Irish tutor Kieran
Donnellan and the name of the pavilion relates to aspects of its
spatial configuration and use.
The
pavilion is a non-'white wall' exhibition space whose character is
meant to inspire exhibits of both existing and new work, relating to
the concept that shaped the pavilion. The concept was inspired by the
history of the Ljubljanica river, and in particular the change over
time in the ways that locals interact with it.
Located
in a narrow riverside park, the curved and pointed form of the wooden
pavilion evoke the atmosphere of a boat that has been placed,
seemingly at first, loosely among a line of trees beside a sluice
gate built by Jose Plecnik. Upon further investigation, the
subtleties of the orientation and the nature of the eccentric
geometry become obvious. Acknowledging the hierarchy in the
directions of pedestrian movement on the site, the pavilion sits
close to the waters edge while reaching out through the tree-line
towards the path. As it breaks the tree-line, the pavilion dissolves,
encouraging movement towards the entrance of the pavilion, while also
framing views of the sluice gate. The covered entryway is an
exaggerated portico that addresses Plecnik's monument. This creates a
strong tension in a way that seems at once both formal and informal.
The
sliding door of the pavilion has no handle. Fluted carving, a
reference to the features of the monument, offers grip over the
entire surface of the door. Sliding back, it reveals the curved
surfaces of the interior. The wooden floor of the entry lobby ends
upon striking the elliptical curve of the interior exhibition space,
where the most intriguing aspect of the concept is discovered - the
floor of the exhibition space is a pool of water. This is a reference
to the way in which the Ljubljanica river was experienced by locals
in the past, when the river lapped right onto some of the streets and
the use of small boats was part of daily life. That moment of
stepping from dry land onto a water based vessel is imitated in the
Water Temple, when a visitor takes their first tentative step onto
the sliced tree-trunks which are placed, unfixed, throughout the
pool. Movement in the exhibition space is carefully balanced and
considered.
The
elliptical shape of the interior was an experiment with the
amplification of sound. An ellipse has two focal points, and any
sound that occurs in the interior within certain directions will be
loudest at those points. The effect is most obvious upon arrival at
the first focal point inside the entrance, where the sound of the
sluice gate is louder than at any position on the journey inside, and
seems to surround the visitor.
Exhibitors
have the freedom to decide where the steps should be placed, or to
use alternatives for their own exhibitions. Work can be mounted on
steel supports fixed to the primary vertical structural members, and
placed in or on the pool. The pavilion will remain in its current
location for between 6 months to a year. A series of exhibitors will
be allowed to use the pavilion in turn. Anybody interested in
exhibiting in the Water Temple can make inquiries to MEDS.
The
pavilion was built using CNC technology and wood bending techniques.
DamaHaus
used their CNC machine to manufacture the primary structural
components, all made from pine. This included cutting a mixture of
traditional blind tenon and exposed dovetail joints. The curved walls
were made on-site by cold-bending and glueing 2 thin layers of wood
together following immersion in the Ljubljanica river.
The
twelveplus
team was composed of 17 people from a variety of different countries
and disciplines. The members were: Agata Madurowicz; Agata Motyka;
Andreas Von Knobloch; Anze Jagodic; Catriona Kinghorn; Florence
Declaveillere; Irem Karadeniz; Kieran Donnellan; Luca Giacobazzi;
Maria Prodromou; Marta Vrankar; Martina Zaman; Mitja Skerjanc;
Paul O' Brien; Sarah Mogensen; Valerio Bianchi; Zsolt Sarkadi. The
team name is a reference to the fact that while the principle design
was developed by a core group of 12 people, there were contributions
from many others including the MEDS
organisers and DamaHaus
team. This year's MEDS
was organised by Can Baysal, Katarina Mravlja and Zana Kopitar.
