uni. of calgary team designs, builds, & installs experimental pavilion

uni. of calgary team designs, builds, & installs experimental pavilion
all images courtesy of university of calgary EVDS

once annually the university of calgary hosts ‘block-week’, a week-long intensive design seminar that includes the design, fabrication, and installation of a full-scale intervention. students of all levels, from foundation to PhD — environmental design, urban planning, architecture — are brought together to explore cutting-edge methods, materials, and manufacturing techniques.

aerial view 

this year’s seminar, led by assistant professor mauricio soto rubio, placed the behavioral and structural properties of construction materials as the driving factor in the creative process. 4mm birch plywood was the chosen element, which was then manipulated in a series of small-scale models that demonstrated a solid construction logic. when a optimal form was realized, the team built and installed the ‘experimental pavilion’. from beginning to end, the project took five days. ‘experimental pavilion’ is being displayed at the university of calgary campus until the end of the year. 

‘experimental pavilion’ was designed by the environmental design department of the uni. of calgary

‘experimental pavilion’ exterior 

scale relation 

cross sections 

base 

overlapped plywood detail 

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.