The 2021 installment of the Albury City Council’s annual architecture pavilion has been completed.
It can be found in QEII Square, behind the Murray Art Museum Albury from 5 November, 2021 to 27 March, 2022.
Carly Martin, Director of Akimbo Architecture, is the first local architect invited to design the Summer Place Pavilion.
Previous years of the pavilion have been designed by Raffaello Roselli (2018) and CHROFI Architects (2019).
Akimbo Architecture used the opportunity of designing a temporary pavilion in the main square of Albury to reflect on the experience of summer in the local region.
Their design was informed by the significance of the Murray River and the riverside trees and the shade they provide.
This ephemeral architecture aims to bridge the divide between QEII Square in the centre of Albury and the surrounding river landscape.
The softly curved form is a container that gathers a collection of large, locally harvested live edge timber slabs.
The slabs are positioned vertically, maintaining their connection to the forest from which they came.
Along the river, trees may be anywhere up to 1,000 years old, linking an ancient indigenous landscape to the present.
These mighty trees have given wood for campfires, bark to craft canoes, and burls and roots for shaping water vessels.
The live edge timber slabs for Summer Place are sourced from a local sustainably managed timber plantation.
These trees are part of an ongoing narrative of place, time, and experience.
The timber board exterior is created from bushfire salvaged timber from the Black Summer bushfires near Corryong and turned black using an oxidizing process.
The steel structure is created from the recycled structure of the previous Summer Place, created by CHROFI Architects.
The black curved form is sited askew to the orthogonal geometry of QEII, disrupting and creating a point of gravity within the space.
The dynamic yet enigmatic exterior rewards curiosity, and as the viewer approaches the warm tones of the vertical timber slabs are revealed.
Within the pavilion, each timber slab is unique, inviting close examination of these natural artworks.
For a moment, the viewer is transported away from QEII, and the only experiences are that of the tall ‘forest’ of timbers – the smell and the touch.
The pavilion aims to create discussions around the local environment, sustainability, and the meaning of summer in the region.
The title ‘See the Forest’ encourages the public to think about the bigger picture that surrounds this pavilion.
Project Details
Project Size – 35 m2
Project Budget – $40,000
Completion Date – 2021
Building Levels – 1
Project Team
Architecture
AKIMBO Architecture
AKIMBO Architecture is a forward-thinking design studio, founded in 2019 by architect Carly Martin.
Photography
Jeremy Weihrauch
Rhys Holland
AKIMBO Architecture
Photo Gallery
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.
Design © 2022 AKIMBO Architecture. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2022 Jeremy Weihrauch, Rhys Holland, AKIMBO Architecture. All Rights Reserved.
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