snarkitecture's drift pavilion welcomes visitors to design miami

‘drift’ by snarkitecture welcomes visitors to the main venue of designmiami/ 2012image © designboom

new york-based practice snarkitecture is one of the firms whose work is being presented at designmiami/ 2012 alongside many projects by world renowned architectus including the likes of OMA, zaha hadid and herzog and de meuron. their entry pavilion, ‘drift,’ welcomes visitors from around the globe to the main venue of the week-long event, where professionals alike can view exhibitions from international creatives, both established and emerging on an equal platform. the structure, loosely echoing the concepts in david adjaye’s design for last year’s fair (see designboom’s earlier coverage here), features a light metal box frame sandwiching a cluster of vertical inflated vinyl tubes. sliding along the same plane, the compilation of air-filled cylinders creates a canopy which forms an inclining topography, inversely forming a cave below inviting guests to linger a while before entering. small crevices and voids in the massive overhead structure allow slivers of natural light to penetrate and bounce around the white material palette. below the hanging stalactites is an open space filled with custom flexible grey tube seats made by the architects encouraging interaction and conversation amongst visitors.

a thin metal frame supports a canopy of white inflated tubesimage © designboom

image © design miami

image © designboom

the pavilion by nightimage © designboom

inflated vinyl tubes are bundled together to form the roof-top structureimage © designboom

inverse topography on the underside of the canopy of inflated tubes forms a cave-like environmentimage © designboom

image © designboom

worm’s-eye viewimage © designboom

voids in the structure allow light to illuminate the interiorimage © designboom

image © designboom

end capimage © designboom

concept sketch of the drift pavilionrendering © snarkitecture

image © snarkitecture

rendering © snarkitecture