Pavilion in a Suitcase

Overview

Project Description

This two-week academic exercise consists of developing proposals for a pavilion, based on the requirements of the brief for the 2015 IASS Pavilion Context. Students will work in small groups of 4-5 people, mixing students from Nottingham University, UK and Andes University, Colombia. At the end of this exercise a panel of judges, formed by lecturers and a student representative from each university, will choose two proposals to develop further (one at each institution) and to be submitted for the IASS competition. Communication between the two institutions, during the course of the project will be possible through a designated Facebook account.

Learning objectives and outcomes

• To further develop architectural design strategies based on principles of flexibility, adaptability transformation and transportation.
• To investigate and apply theoretical framework on the subject of innovative structures and envelopes.
• To explore effective techniques of analysis and representation, suitable for design competitions.
• To practice methods for active and collaborative group work.  

Students will gain experience of developing a project with a particular research emphasis for a real design competition. In addition, they will have the opportunity of working collectively with other students from a different institution and at a distance, in order to achieve a common goal.

Schedule

• First week of October: Introduction, discussion of the brief and organisation of groups
• 01-15 October: Development of the proposal
• 16 October:  Presentation of the proposals and selection of two proposals to be developed further.   

Submission requirements

Each group will submit their proposal in a five-minute video which explains the design ideas using visual aids. This video has to be uploaded on Youtube and linked to the groups Facebook account by the 16 of October at 12noon (GMT).

Assessment Criteria

The project will be judged against the following main aspects:

Compliance with the brief: the proposal acknowledges and complies with the basic requirements set in the competition brief in terms of size, weight and installation of the pavilion’s components.

Flexibility: The proposal explores principles of transformation, adaptation and modularity that make it able to be easily fabricated, transported and assembled on different sites.

Conceptual development: the proposal is funded in a theoretical framework that investigates notions related to future horizons in the design discipline or potential transfers with performing or visual arts.

Originality: the overall idea for the pavilion is creative and innovative in terms of formal expression, technical development and/or in the way the pavilion is used.