Rotative Studio brightens Swiss town square with modular wooden pavilions

Architecture firm Rotative Studio has created three colourful temporary pavilions for reading and socialising in the Place du Marché square in Aigle, Switzerland.

Called Three Pavilions, the structures are designed to be "a playful intervention that could help revitalise the Place du Marché", a square in the middle of the historic town.

Rotative Studio has built three colourful pavilions in Aigle

"This square will undergo a transformation during the next years, to become greener and more pedestrian-friendly," Caterina Viguera, co-founder of Rotative Studio, told Dezeen.

"This work is not only about the design and layout of the pavilions but as much about the plan to revitalize the Place du Marché, to reinterpret what is there," she added.

The largest structure is used for community meetings

The Three Pavilions are constructed from steel, with Méranti plywood facades and larchwood flooring and furniture. Aluminium was used around the openings to protect the structures from water damage.

Rotative Studio chose these materials for their strength and durability, which was especially important as the structures were built on-site. After seven years, the pavilions will be relocated to another location in the city.

The tallest pavilion is designed for viewing the surroundings

"The pavilions are built in a modular way, to make the assemblage and dissemble simple," Viguera explained. "Designed as a modular system, the pavilions are prepared in the atelier of the local maker and transported and assembled on-site."

"The combination of steel and wood ensures makes this possible and ensures their durability and resistance in time," she added.

The blue pavilion houses a library of books

The smallest pavilion is six meters tall and has a curving staircase with a viewing platform at the top. Locals who climb to the top can take in views of the nearby Alps, as well as the wine fields around the town.

The blue pavilion is home to a library of books stored on shelves behind glass sliding doors. It also holds a large table and a bench where visitors can sit to read.

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The green pavilion, which is the largest and has a footprint of six by five meters, has benches all around the inside and an empty space in the middle for community events such as plays or theatre performances.

A large opening in the ceiling allows light to enter and visitors to look up at the sky above. A set of wooden stools can be placed both inside and around all of the structures.

Books are encased behind sliding glass doors

Each of the three wood-and-steel structures incorporates covered areas, steps and large openings that are accessible from all sides to reframe how both adults and children interact with the surrounding landscape.

"The locals are currently using the pavilions in different ways – they organise concerts, theatre plays, wine testings by the local winemakers and workshops between multidisciplinary groups," said Viguera.

"The children are the ones who have appropriated the structures the most: they usually arrive at the square after school, and play with the structures in multiple ways."

Each pavilion is made from steel and wood

Each structure has a different colour palette, made up of the three primary colours red, green and blue with decorative geometric lines. The architects hoped that the bright colours would add some vibrancy to the otherwise full public square.

"A strong colour palette of red, blue and green tones introduces a new identity to the square, in dialogue with the context," said the studio.

At night, the interior of the pavilions is illuminated, making them a safe space to enter in the evening.

Other recently designed pavilions include a structure designed by Kengo Kuma made from live bamboo and a pavilion informed by chocolate by architecture studio Wutopia Lab in Shanghai.

_The photography is courtesy ofRotative Studio. _

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Project credits:

Client : Commune d’Aigle, department d’urbanisme, mobilité et paysage

Built by : Guarnaccia Constructions

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Yuri Suzuki designs Sonic Bloom to connect people with the sounds of London

Sound artist and designer Yuri Suzuki has created Sonic Bloom, an interactive installation in London featuring a cluster of colourful horn-shaped speaking tubes through which people can communicate.

Sonic Bloom is a network of red, yellow and blue horns that are arranged in a formation that resembles a blooming flower – hence the installation's name.

The installation is in London's Brown Hart Gardens

Curated by Alter-Projects, each of Sonic Bloom's horns is a speaking tube, meaning that people can communicate with each other through the horns' interconnected tubes as well as listen to the sounds that they pick up and amplify.

Some of the horns face upward to catch the general sounds of the city.

The installation opens to the public today at Brown Hart Gardens in London's Mayfair area – close to the city's Oxford Street shopping district – where it will remain for 12 months.

Horn-shaped speaking tubes make up the sculpture

Suzuki, who is a partner at design firm Pentagram's London office, explained the thinking behind Sonic Bloom's primary colour palette, which he described as his favourite colours.

"I chose primary colours because I am dyslexic and they help with reading," the designer said. "With these clear divisions, people can easily identify the passage of sound."

"Primary colours also will fit very well into any landscape," Suzuki told Dezeen. "I have created sculptures in public realms before and primary colours do not conflict with landscapes and environments."

Some of the horns face the sky to capture the sounds of the city

The installation's layout features seats and horns at varying levels to ensure that people of all ages are invited to interact with the sculpture. Suzuki described this as an important aspect of the work.

"I personally think just a statue standing in public realms does not give enough function to the community," the designer explained. "If people actively use it, then public art has a meaning."

Sonic Bloom is painted in primary colours

Sonic Bloom also features a digital element for those unable to travel to its site in London.

Users' voices will be recorded and transformed into flower animations, which will eventually be shared on a website for people across the world to click and listen to.

Devised before the coronavirus pandemic, Alter-Projects founder Anne-Laure Pingreoun described how the urgency of Sonic Bloom's message has been enhanced by the isolation caused by national lockdowns.

"We strongly believe that art and design can change cities, spaces and minds alike," Pingreoun explained.

"Nowadays, especially after covid, it is more important than ever that cities are filled with art, as culture is a powerful tool to regenerate areas and commerce."

The project aims to reconnect people after national lockdowns

The installation was designed so that it can be dismantled and easily reassembled in other locations to avoid waste. Alter-Projects also took the coronavirus pandemic into consideration when developing the final design.

"We had security in mind during the entire process, and wanted to make sure it was as Covid-proof as possible," Pingreoun said.

"We decided to use anti-bacterial paint, made sure the seats were securely distanced, and [property group] Grosvenor will be cleaning it regularly."

Everyone is invited to interact with the work

"Obviously, this sculpture could help to shorten the distance of communication between people, but at the same time, it could be positioned as a communication centre to help people slowly go back to pre-covid methods of communication," concluded Suzuki.

Suzuki is a Japanese sound artist and designer. In 2018, he created Sonic Playground, a collection of colourful sound-modifying sculptures for the High Museum of Art Atlanta in America.

Alter-Projects is a multidisciplinary curatorial agency founded by Pingreoun in 2015. The collective recently exhibited another sensory installation at the London Design Biennale.

The photography is courtesy of Alter-Projects and Yuri Suzuki.

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Sonic Bloom is on show at Brown Hart Gardens in London from 23 August for 12 months. SeeDezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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ODA proposes New York rezoning scheme to swap height restrictions for public space

Architecture office ODA has proposed a rezoning plan for New York that would allow developers to build higher in return for turning private courtyards into public space.

Called Beyond the Street, the scheme aims to address the loss of the city's traditional mixed-use neighbourhoods, where people can live, work and enjoy leisure time, due to development.

ODA has proposed a rezoning scheme for New York

ODA's proposal would allow developers to build more private spaces above street level in exchange for creating more pedestrianised areas for the public at ground level.

The practice, which was founded in 2007, has produced a video (above) explaining Beyond the Street's goals.

Private courtyards could be turned into public space

"The decline of traditional street-level retail, which typically covers the majority of the ground floor in many of the city's buildings has inspired us to seek more engaging and inclusive programming to replace it," said ODA.

"In order to level the playing field, we need to create a more democratic and accessible ground floor experience that serves everyone, not just the wealthy who live above it," added the New York-based studio.

"There's an increasing desire to live in mixed-use neighborhoods that are walkable, diverse and accessible. We need to replace big box retail with more desirable local mom and pop shops and food and beverage experiences, which have been driven out."

Developers could add height onto buildings in return for public space

ODA looked at Manhattan's Flower District as a case study. Located in the Chelsea neighbourhood between Broadway to 6th Avenue between 23rd and 33rd, the block became a hub for the city's immigrant flower sellers in the 18th century.

But by the end of the 20th century, rising rents and land values had pushed many flower wholesalers out of business as developers building high rises moved in. In 2004, the New York Times reported that the number of flower businesses in the district had fallen to just 32.

Flower District vendors have been pushed out of the area

A scheme such as Beyond the Street could revitalise the Flower District, ODA suggested, by encouraging the next wave of developers to carve out more space for vendors.

"Typical lots between 6th and 7th Avenues are 100 foot (30 metres) deep and vary in width," said the studio.

"However, the buildings, for the most part, provide required light and air at the back, creating a somewhat secret courtyard at the inside of every city block," added ODA.

"The Flower District currently has many underused parking lots, which would provide the initial infrastructure for passageways to and from the courtyards."

New cafes could open on the ground floor

These pedestrian zones would be privately owned public spaces, sometimes called POPs, similar to London's Heatherwick Studio-designed Coal Drops Yard. ODA envisages them filled with shops, eateries and open-air markets.

The Beyond the Street rezoning model could be used to revitalise many areas of New York, said the studio.

"Vibrant pedestrian attractions such as the High Line, Madison Square Park and the new Little Island show that breathing life into often unused spaces are possible with great design and a little bit of landscaping," said ODA.

"The result is a win-win, the private investor gets a taller building, while the city and the public get new more interactive public spaces."

Parking lots could be turned into access roads

ODA's proposal is not the first to suggest harnessing developer financing to try and benefit neighbourhoods.

New York's Metro Transport Authority is collaborating with the city's planning department to lobby for updating zoning regulations so that developers could gain planning approval in return for improving subway station accessibility by building more elevators.

On Billionaire's Row, developer Sedesco is seeking authorisation to add more floorspace to a proposed supertall skyscraper by OMA in return for improving 57th Street's F train subway station.

Recent projects by ODA include an apartment block in Dumbo and an office built in a converted Brookly sugar factory.

The renders are by SeeThree.

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