Metsapaviljonki: form follows wood

Suau, Cristian 2008. Metsapaviljonki: form follows wood. Presented at: 10th International DOCOMOMO Conference, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 17-19 September 2008. Published in: van den Heuvel, D., Mesman, M., Quist, W. and Lemmens, B. eds. The Challenge of Change: Dealing with the Legacy of the Modern Movement - Proceedings of the 10th International DOCOMOMO Conference. Amsterdam: IOS Press, pp. 27-32. 10.3233/978-1-58603-917-2-27

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Abstract

Nowadays, the emphasis in the design of exposition pavilions is mainly full of pseudo-technical or rhetorical ideas of progress. Nevertheless most of them do not communicate a vision. They show a lack of spatial qualities and continuity with the built environment. In general, there is not a common conservation agenda to adapt or reuse exemplary Modern pavilions. Some emblematic cases are haunted icons, a consequence of undocumented, incorrect or simply fake reconstruction, whilst others are victims of neglectfulness and degradation. Nevertheless, what can we still rediscover by reviving or reconstructing Modern Movement Exposition pavilions? During the 1930s, pavilions were not only visionary and experimental manifestations of living systems but were also temporary and fast-built showrooms disseminating a cultural or ideological message. By exploring the work of the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, we find that all his Modern timber exposition pavilions have been rapidly dismantled. What kind of continuity can we generate by rebuilding Aaltian pavilions? How did this sense of primitiveness become a manifesto for the use of rudimentary within Modern Movement Architecture? In order to respond to these queries, we must search on the idea of Aalto’s space-frame as a ‘(...) fantastic structure of free forms; a building with an inner façade’. This pavilion-type becomes an organism of assemblage. Metsäpaviljonski or the Forest Pavilion, built in Lapua in 1938, was characterised by a sense of impermanency of the framework, fleetingness of the event, and primitiveness in the use of wood. The first condition refers to durability of the structure, the second one implies a transient condition of use, and the third one contains the essential material. Despite it being an ignored masterpiece of Nordic ephemeral architecture, the design cleverly combined Modern and traditional ideas of fabrication. The spatial outcome was both tent and hut. It synthesized a morphological transformation, evolving from a geometric form into a fluctuating organism. The Forest Pavilion was an elementary space for display: a primitive frame wrapped by turbulent and fibrous textile patches. Exposition Pavilions as structures are inherently transitory. This establishes a double dialogue: From nature to architecture and from architecture to nature. Thus the Forest Pavilion emerges as a playful manifesto of Primitiveness. Following a Semperian viewpoint, the Forest Pavilion re-bridges the ideas of Modernism rooted in vernacular living rather than avant-garde trends. It refers to the notion of the Finnish tent, kota, a temporary nomadic dwelling based on the logic of ‘camouflage’, where its skin constitutes the bark or shell. In Lapua Pavilion, form follows wood.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Architecture
Subjects:	N Fine Arts > NA Architecture
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Wooden Pavilions; Tectonics; Compactness; Lightness; Agile Fabrication
Publisher:	IOS Press
ISBN:	9781586039172
Last Modified:	19 Mar 2016 22:24
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/15004

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