PLEASURE AND POLEMICS IN ARCHITECTURE

PAPILLON AND THE OTHER HALF

The exhibition, “Pleasure and Polemics in Architecture”, which opens in the German Architecture Museum on July 11, 2009, pays tribute to the role of the pavilion in architecture. The exhibition presents a collection of select pavilions analyzed by students of the Städelschule Architecture Class and a study of a wall-structure-cum-pavilion, “Papillon”, designed by SAC faculty members, Johan Bettum and Lars Nixdorff. The contribution of SAC to the exhibition attempts to document and embody the polemical and experimental role that the pavilion typology always has had in architecture.

The exhibition frames the pavilion as an architectural typology that oscillates between art object and architectural prototype. Throughout the history of architecture, it has always served as a space of reverence, enjoyment, pleasure or as a medium for architectural experimentation and polemics.

The exhibition is made up of two parts. One part comprise the work of the Berlin-based firm, Barkow-Leibinger, and the Stuttgart engineering firm of Werner Sobek. In the other part, SAC presents a two-fold exhibition called “Papillon and the Other Half”. “The Other Half” comprises historical analyses of exemplary pavilions drawn from Modern era till today. The pavilions have been analyzed by students of SAC and are presented in a down-to-earth manner that focuses on the key feature in the respective pavilions. The pavilions span from Le Corbusier’s L'Esprit Nouveau (Paris, 1925) to recent pavilion designs of the Japanese architect, Toyo Ito. The title, “The Other Half”, of this segment of the exhibition plays on the fundamental role that this history forms for the contemporary production of architecture and the complementary role of that the pavilion analysis have for the other part of the SAC exhibition, “Papillon”.

“Papillon” is designed as a wall structure for the exhibition in DAM. “Papillon” is the French word for butterfly and represents the etymological root for the word, pavilion. “Papillon” is made from textile reinforced polymer matrix panels and serves as the canvas for a series of models that have been produces by SAC students. The geometry of the small rapid prototype models have been derived from the respective pavilion analysis. Against “Papillon” they form a geometric fauna of insects.

In DAM “Papillon” is presented in the form of a study. Select wall panels have been produced to demonstrate some of the aesthetic possibilities that fiber-reinforced composite materials present for architecture in aesthetic terms. With all the 16 panels completed, “Papillon” folds up like butterfly wings to make a self-supported pavilion enclosure.

On the occasion of the exhibition, Hatje Cantz Verlag brings out a lavishly illustrated publication “The Pavilion - Pleasure and Polemics in Architecture”, featuring essays by Frank Barkow, Barry Bergdoll, Ben van Berkel, Johan Bettum, Christian Brensing, Kerstin Bußmann, Beatriz Colomina, Nikolaus Hirsch, Werner Sobek and Wolfgang Sundermann.

“Pleasure and Polemics in Architecture” is open from 11.07.09 to 20.09.09

“Papillon”

“Papillon” is a wall-structure-cum-pavilion for which preliminary material-geometric studies carried out by the students of the Städelschule Architecture Class (SAC) are presented in this exhibition. The project is an experiment with textile-reinforced polymer composite materials as well as complex surface geometry and forms part of the ongoing research being conducted at the SAC on the topic of these material systems in relation to architecture.

In the exhibition, examples of the preliminary material tests are displayed against a 25 meter long printed canvas equaling the length of “Papillon” planned as a wall surface. The latter consists of sixteen different panels with varying geometry and openings. Its overall structure is derived by categorizing and rating the pavilions which have been analyzed by the SAC students where they have been classified according to the functional or ideological categories of Weltverständnis, Performance, Exhibition, Communication, Pleasure / Celebration. This wall structure is designed so that it can fold into a semi-enclosed pavilion structure. Hence the name, “Papillon,” which is the French term for butterfly and the etymological root for the word pavilion.

“Papillon” is an ongoing experiment. The exhibited wall panels are preliminary trials carried out to test the pliability of a specific glass-fiber reinforcement product relative to the surface geometry of the “Papillon.” Throughout the duration of the exhibition at the DAM, further tests will be conducted to develop and extend the current set of panels. This is in line with the nature of “Papillon” which underlies the permanent state of metamorphosis. The objective of this process is to produce a set of panels with an original aesthetic expression and an optimized geometry of the fiber reinforcement with respect to the overall stability of “Papillon.”

“The Other Half”

 “The Other Half” comprises historical analysis of exemplary pavilions drawn from the Modern era to the present day. They have been examined – in theory as well as in practice - by the students of the Städelschule Architecture Class (SAC) where their individual investigations have served as the starting point for experimental modeling. The results bear witness to the two-stage nature of the project where they are presented, in the first instance, as a collection of models reconstructing the historical pavilions and then as a set of computer-generated, rapid prototype models that focus on key features of the respective pavilions. Against the backdrop of the exhibition section “Papillon,” the geometry of these small models form a geometric fauna of insects. The title, “The Other Half”, plays on the fundamental role that this history forms for the contemporary production of architecture and the complementary function that the pavilion analyses hold for the other part of the SAC exhibition, “Papillon”.

Models: Farzad Akhavan, Dushyant Asher, Prasanna Chafekar, Hao Chen, Alexandra Danciulescu, Aliasghar Doost, Siavash Jaraiedi, Deepak Jawahr, Maria Kochneva, Jochen Krimm, Lukas Ledderose, Kristina Madsen, Tarak Mehta, Ashish Mohite, Ala Roushan, Mohammed Subarkah, Michele Albanelli, Rashmi Katkar, Ata Mansuroglu.



All model photos by Jonas Leihener