Peace Pavilion - exposed & enclosed

By visiting the site and its area several times, we have found that Bethnal Green, including the Museum Gardens, is a place of great diversity culturally and naturally. The visits in both weekdays and weekends, cloudy and sunny day have ensured us that such diversity has been existing outdoor and indoor, visibly and invisibly, tangibly and intangibly. Cultural and Eco-diversity are sometimes seen on footpaths, observable under a tree, or hidden behind curtains. All of these give a sense of place to the site, and we have agreed to design the Peace Pavilion that will make the “existing” diversity more perceivable by the public to create mutual understanding and respect among cultures, and to let the cultures and nature to co-exist and florish alongside each other peacefully.
We have decided to introduce a “light” intervention in the gardens to serve as a platform for activities and a backdrop for nature. This intervention will disturb the “existing” environment the least, but will respond to it the most. Waterproofed pink nylon curtains will be installed to be cast on by sunlight and shadow and to be blown by cool breeze - to amplify the presence of nature. They will “enclose” space but “expose” life. Their adjustability will increase playfulness.
Instead of creating a solid platform on ground, an ascending platform will touch the site slightly but maximise the appreciation of it. Reclaimed perforated panels will be gathered from local sources and will be recoated in three tones of pink - a colour that is associated with peacefulness. They will be folded into four types of module that are easy to be transported. Then they will be assembled into a stepped platform gradually ascending from the ground to a tree, to serve a variety of activities and to provide opportunity for users to enjoy the scenary and species in a different way. The playful illusion to be created by overlapping layers of the perforated panels will encourage more interactions among users. The porousness of the panels will let light and air to pass through them.
Lightweight steel structure will be used. Its slenderness will reassure the light intervention in the site.
All the materials can be reused and/or recycled. The pink curtains can be given as a gift in Boishakhi Mela Festival to local street merchants to shelter their stalls to beautify Bethnal Green Road’s street scene, yet to retain the sense of diversity. Perforated panels and steels can be given to local entrepreneurs who design furniture with reclaimed materials or to be sold back to recycling points.

Project: Peace Pavilion - exposed & enclosed
Location: Museum Gardens, London, United Kingdom
Design: 2013
Major Material: Waterproofed pink nylon curtains, Reclaimed perforated panels, Lightweight steel structure
Area: 20 sq.m.