Ephemeral Pavilion, UC Competition
For this competition, a request was made to create a self-supporting and ephemeral pavilion to host the 18th Cultural Week of the University of Coimbra, which should be built in the covered passage between the Chemistry and Physics departments next to Rua Larga.Due to the ephemeral nature of this pavilion, we were given the possibility of creating a more experimental architecture, with new materials and new techniques in order to create a space with special meaning to host this event.Starting from the concept at the top, inverting it trying to look for a spatiality with meaning, using as such traditional construction techniques in Portugal, or from Mediterranean countries, somewhat in the image of Architect Kengo Kuma, who does something similar in some of his works with the traditional Japanese construction. As such, we thought of a material widely used by Mediterranean people, clay, which when cooked or dried in the sun, gives us the solid bricks that will be the basis of the construction we present here.For the space, a plan of a simple chapel was considered as a way of creating a “sacred” space, to welcome readers or spectators in the main body and in the small apse the speaker or preacher for the occasion. To create a visual connection between the exterior and interior space, we opted for a solid brick laying, using cement mortar to create a dynamic game of holes that allows us to see the exterior and interior at the same time and create a play of light and shadow as sunlight passes through. In the apse there is a gap facing south as a way of creating a play of light and shadow.
