atelier david telerman carves ‘mcneal 020,’ a stepped pyramid descending into the desert

four projecting lines invite the visitor to walk carefully above the sunken concrete void.

kat barandy September 2, 2021 3 min

carving a sculpted landscape

embedded into the vast desert landscape of arizona, atelier david telerman’s mcneal 020 pavilion is designed to endure nature and time. the built work is realized for a private client based in france as an homage to the dream-like nature of its endless context. the team recalls artists who have been similarly inspired by the desert region, including max ernst who, in search of new forms, imagined surreal landscapes while living in arizona. bringing together the raw elements of the place, atelier david telerman similarly imagines a new topography. a concrete intervention is carved out from the vast ground, sculpted with ‘the weight of the wind and the geometrical precision of the light.’

david telerman mcneal 020
image © iwan baan

the STEPPED PYRAMID

inverted

atelier david telerman realizes the mcneal 020 pavilion to suggest an inverted, stepped pyramid. entirely constructed of reinforced concrete cast-in-place, the work digs into the earth and is punctuated at its center by an enclosed box. overhead, four lines project out from the roof of the box. these horizontal elements extend out at various lengths, eventually embedding into the ground plane. the elongated lines invite the visitor to walk carefully above the sunken void, to feel the verticality of a suspended body, a sense of fear.

meanwhile, the rhythmic lines of the steps below capture the ever-changing light. distorted shadows gradually travel across the stepping surface as precise pendulums. inside the enclosed central volume, a linear bench faces the door and receives the low light of the sunset. invisible from the east, the underground structure gradually appears to reveal the breach, the steps, and the central space as a meticulously curated procession.

david telerman mcneal 020
image © iwan baan

nature gradually disappears

architect david telerman comments: ‘despite its apparent simplicity, the structure tends to express, almost in a primitive way, the contrast between nature that gradually disappears down the stairs in a quiet sound and the view of nature reappearing while climbing up the stairs, the reddish ground, heavy wind and the mountains in the far end.’

david telerman mcneal 020
image © iwan baan