The narrative starts by seeking a connection with John Ruskin and his writings, where we discover his interest in matters of environmentalism, sustainability and craft. His relationship with the Coniston Institute help us to define a framework into which the design of the pavilion can find its roots. In a direct homage to Ruskin, we have named our proposal ‘Iteriad’, the long poem that accounts of the 1830 tour that took Ruskin to the Lake District. We begin the design process by dissecting the cricket ball – a highly crafted object – to reveal its core and its constituting elements, in an attempt to trigger a process that will enable us to discover the ‘vacuum’ as the truly essential: the reality of a space can be found in the vacant space enclosed by the elements that envelope it, in an approach that FL Wright often used in many of his projects.
Model, Front Elevation
© Francesco Pierazzi Architects . Published on November 26, 2013.
Cork is used as a skin to define the envelope of the pavilion. It is used in a rhythmic fashion – alternated between ‘slivers’ of glass – to produce convex ‘trunks’ that allude to the forests of trees where cork is harvested, and to the forests of the Coniston Fells. The resulting undulated façade is also intended as a reference to the corrugated materials often find in rural buildings. The natural imperfections of the cork skin give the building a character that makes it closer to nature.
View from the cricket picth
© Francesco Pierazzi Architects . Published on November 26, 2013.
The proposal breaks up the programme requirements into a series of separate primary spaces that can be interconnected, to generate a variety of secondary configurations. The result is a spatial composition that provides equilibrium amongst the constituting parts. The overhanging roof projects out of all sides of the enclosure, and acts as the architectural element that unify all the components.
COMPOSITION 1 - CRICKET SEASON
© Francesco Pierazzi Architects . Published on November 26, 2013.
The rear of the roof overhangs is aligned with the existing stone wall to anchor the building to the site and its historic
COMPOSITION 2 - HOLIDAY LET, 2 STUDIOs
© Francesco Pierazzi Architects . Published on November 26, 2013.
COMPOSITION 1– CRICKET SEASON
COMPOSITION 4 – 1FLAT OR MULTIFUNCTIONAL SPACE
© Francesco Pierazzi Architects . Published on November 26, 2013.
The building in use during the cricket season has changing rooms, with toilets and showers, on either sides of a central office space that can double up as the club house, with a cabinet to storage trophies and memorabilia.
Model, Rear Elevation
© Francesco Pierazzi Architects . Published on November 26, 2013.
COMPOSITION 2– HOLIDAY LET, 2 STUDIOs
Model, Front elevation
© Francesco Pierazzi Architects . Published on November 26, 2013.
The pavilion has been designed so that it can be used as holiday lets. The Changing rooms for the cricket games are suitable to become two small studio flats, equipped with a sofa bed and dining table. There is a small kitchenette with hotplates, sink, microwave and a small fridge. The Kitchenette is enclosed within a cupboard during the cricket season.
COMPOSITION 3– HOLIDAY LET, 1 FLAT AND 1 STUDIO
With the sliding partition retracted, the changing room is connected with the clubhouse and can be used as a larger flat for holiday let. The covered entrance area can be used as patio for alfresco dining.
COMPOSITION 4– 1FLAT OR MULTIFUNCTIONAL SPACE
With the sliding partitions retracted, the changing rooms and club house become one single space, suitable as a larger flat for holiday let or as a multifunctional space. As the amount of natural lights can be modulated by opening and closing the shutters, the space is suitable for exhibitions. We envisage that during the winter months it could be used as a pop-up Christmas market.
RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE
In nature horizontal lines are emphasized to establish a feeling of repose and to augment the perception and contemplation of the outdoors. The pavilion is covered by an overhanging flat roof to facilitate a stronger relationship between the building and the surrounding landscape. In turn the overhanging roof – used to modulate sunlight – becomes an external room, not simply a shading device: an outdoor space that offers the opportunity for alfresco events.
The expanse of the overhanging roof, covered with a sedum ‘blanket’, is an elevated microcosm where biodiversity can flourish and become the home to insects and small creatures.
The result is a building that wants users and visitors to think and engage with nature. It is an opportunity for the pavilion to allow for the observation of the surrounding nature and an attempt to a deeper understanding of it.
The pavilion is ‘synthetic’ landscape, a condensed architectural microcosm that integrates architecture with its geographical and cultural setting, a building that seeks a dialogue with its context, perhaps able to turn an outdoor space into an indoor one and vice versa.
And the building, driven by geometrical proportion and mathematical repetitions, is intended as a deliberate juxtaposition to the natural landscape around it.