The aim of the Borden Park Pavilion is to create a welcoming and accessible amenity and warm-up space at the heart of the park. It creates a moment along the pathways for visitors, adding to the diverse number of uses and activities that take place throughout. It provides a central location for social gatherings and a backdrop for cultural events. Responding to the network of pathways and the extremes of Edmonton's climate, the Pavilion deploys form, function and sculptural expression to create an indoor and outdoor microclimate, shaping a comfortable and useful series of spaces that are warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Public art sits at its centre, integrated as one of the fundamental devices. It enriches the existing network of pathways and deploys form reduce energy demand and uses materials suitable for the climate and programme to craft a robust response to the design problem that treads lightly on the earth and enriching the cultural fabric of the City by providing a backdrop for uses as diverse as a stop during a Sunday stroll or an outdoor theatrical performance.
The project's response to this design problem is a sheltered hearth situated at the intersection of the network of pathways at the heart of Borden Park. The hearth, the first of Gottfried Semper's Four Fundamental Elements of Architecture, is the centre of the home, the focal point of the community, the giver of heat and light, the place of cultural exchange and association. This cultural symbol is nearly synonymous throughout history and across cultures, from the fable of Prometheus to its central role in First Nations ritual and community.
It is a cultural moment within the park, an earthwork and sculpture garden that is shaped by the landscape around it. The Pavilion's is organic circular form is placed 1.2m below grade and generates a central gathering place shaped by the sun, wind and surrounding landscape. The canopy, lifted off the ground by 0.4m, wraps and encloses the hearth, while sheltering the volumes of program and articulated courtyard below. Characteristic of cold climate design principles, the space is sheltered by the earth and with the glazed facades of the programme volumes oriented to the South. The response shelters the court and hearth from the harsh south-west winter winds while allowing the warmth of the sun to heat the outdoor warm-up space beyond in the winter while in the summer providing the respite of shade and welcoming the summer breezes.
The pavilion is composed of three elements: the hearth centrally placed in the articulated ground plane of a courtyard, the canopy that floats above, and two volumes connected by a vestibule containing the cafe and washrooms. The design solution is rooted in the use of standard construction methods and simple, sustainably sourced yet robust materials. It is when combined that these elements shape the space and create a dynamic expression.
(From competitor's text)
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