Title:  The quiet pavilion

Typology: built habitable space designed as recreational and contemplative resting place, as a meeting point in public and private parks and gardens.

Materials: wood, stone and steel.

Dimensions: height 360 cm, length 360 cm, depth 360 cm.

Technology: wooden poles aligned and crossed to circumscribe a cubic space, held together by stainless steel rods that pierce and join the poles on the meeting line of the walls.

Project Description: what is the original form of architecture?

During my time in Korea, I encountered the 평상 (Pyeongsang)—an essential construction, consisting of a floating wooden platform placed on a stone foundation. Used in public or private settings but always outdoors, it represents the minimal form, symbolic and original, of the house as a room. It is the archetype that initiates and opens the built, thought, and inhabited space.

Building upon this type of habitation, the 정자 (Jeongja) emerged, distinct from the Pyeongsang in its inclusion of a canopy roof. Serving as an open-air room integrated with the surrounding environment and connected to the horizon, the Jeongja was designed for communal use, offering rest for travelers. As a result, it was commonly situated along roads and pathways.

The work I am presenting is titled "quiet pavilion", conceived as a poetic exploration of the relationship between space and human interaction.

The design employs a modular structure, repeated in an alternating full-empty rhythm to define a space. This approach avoids the definitive enclosure created by walls, allowing a seamless merging of interior and exterior. It blurs the boundaries between indoors and outdoors, fostering a sense of openness.

The quiet pavilion invites people to gather and pause in communal spaces, highlighting the intimate and conversational essence of the home, the nest, and, by extension, the family. It manifests in the encounters between individuals who, by pausing together, contribute to shaping a shared sense of peace, quietude, and silence.

This work also finds its identity in serial production, offering public resting places where individuals can rest, refresh, converse, and reflect.

Emerging from my deep interest in the dialogue between sculpture and architecture, this project draws inspiration from a thought by Tadao Ando that profoundly resonates with me:

"Space will only have life when people enter it."

Gabriele Risso, London, December 2024