Our present city is overrun by private buildings, limiting access to public space. Urban Accordion is a microcosm of an alternate urban condition: a City of Dreams. Four fabric ‘blocks’ expand and contract, creating different levels of enclosure to suit a range of programming, while the space contained by the structures forms a larger communal area for events and chance encounters between the juxtaposed programs. Urban Accordion is a new urban condition: a flexible assembly for serendipity and public events that fluctuates to meet users’ demands.
The physical manifestation of our dream has gone through several iterations since the initial competition phase, when we proposed a reclaimed lumber frame and canvas scrim.
Spanning between the columns is a system of locking, sliding woods 1x3 cross bracing which creates lateral stability while allowing the pavilion to expand and contract. This bracing is inset in the beams, allowing the interior and exterior of the pavilion to retain their clean lines.
The fabric is held off the structure and free from the moving bracing on a series of cables and eyescrews. This also allows for the adjustment of the fabircs tension and allows for the structure and the cladding to be assembled separately.
Following the Jury’s comments regarding the framing of the structure, we explored aluminium extrusions and steel channels as alternatives to our initial wood framing system. However, they would significantly impact the expense of the pavilion, the ecological footprint of the materials, and would require specialized equipment to fabricate.
