Zužemberk Pavilion

For Žužemberk, Dry Land, Slovenia, 2013

Located near the medieval heavy fortified castle walls, in the oldest square of Zuzemberk, the proposed pavilion acts as a strange attractor which defines new paths and areas without imposing clear boundaries and programs. An informal space covered by an atectonic waving surface caught like in a process of dematerialization. There is no confusion between this contemporary insertion and the old buildings. They belong to different times, they have different design design methods, different manufacturing techniques.

The pavilion opens towards the main road, the fountain plaza and the stairs. The space below is not partitioned in any way, allowing different configurations depending on the hosted activities. The total covered functional space has 370 sqm. It is composed of 325 parallel wooden beams of various lengths and heights stacked one next to each other. The beams are parallel to the main direction of the church ruins which they are covering.

The beams marked in red in the diagram are continuous, covering the full length of the pavilion while the blue ones stop at different lengths. Because of structural reasons the short beams are concentrated in three areas where the pavilion is connected to the ground. They also create a completely covered space in the center. Overall the shape of the pavilion is slightly arched in the long direction allowing a spatial connection between the road and the castle walls and entrance. To manufacture the beams a CNC cutting machine can be used. The pavilion has multiple degrees of density, depending on the spaces between beams. Dark areas are completely opaque, with no space between beams. In the light areas the gaps between them reaches 30cm.

The cutting process can start earlier and the beams can be stored until assembling starts on site. The assembling work can be divided into several groups, this construction times can be estimated more accurately and adjusted to meet the deadline.

Depending on the cutting machine maximum dimensions the long beams will be split into shorter pieces. All pieces will be connected on site using metallic components.