RIAI | Irish Architecture Awards

Citation

Overseas (under €300,000)

A synthesis of engineering, science and sculpture, this building is a triumph of architecture. Its design was an inclusive process involving consultants, contractor, school children and the elements; the architect as conductor, not soloist.

Architects Comment
The De La Warr Pavilion was built in 1935 and designed by a team of Erich Mendlesohn and Serge Chermayeff. It is a Grade 1 listed building.

We proposed to develop a number of collaborations to broaden the scope of the design process. The three key collaborations were:

We worked with children from six local primary schools. The children formed teams and designed bandstands. These projects were reviewed and the architects incorporated ideas from each design into one proposal. The children then took six one-day sessions where aspects of the developing design were discussed.

We worked with structural and acoustic engineers to find a form, which would project sound without distortion and would resist the huge winds, which buffet the site. It was important that the design emerged from the physics.

The bandstand consists of a canopy held on a metal base which supports decking for musicians. The canopy is a shell form which projects sound out in one direction.

The shell form is subject to big wind loads of up to six times the weight of the structure. It is therefore held down to the ground by a steel frame with bracing legs to prevent rocking. The terrace is used for tea dances during the summer afternoons and we have imagined the bandstand as a dancer. It can move about on the terrace to accommodate different types of performance or different weather conditions. The shell is prefabricated stressed plywood structure. The canopy was made in three sections; each transported independently to site. The on site construction took only three days. As the last section of the shell was craned into place a considerable crowd of locals gathered and broke into applause.

Client Comment
Niall McLaughlin demonstrated an innate ability to talk to the children, assess their models seriously and go at their pace - indeed the ‘butterfly’ design of the roof bears a close resemblance to their ideas. He was also sympathetic to the site and its challenges, and worked with the staff of the Pavilion very well.