Art Gallery Pavillion, Woking

Competition Entry

2009

This project investigates how the perception of a building can mutate according to the distance from which it is perceived.

The exterior of the building is wrapped in mirror-polished stainless steel so that from a distance this pavilion appears very slick, almost like one of the cars on the four-lane highway next door.

Up close this appearance starts to break up. The mirrored panels are wrinkled to create the effect of fairground mirrors. This is intended as an incidental effect to be discovered by surprise rather than something to be advertised. This treatment of the exterior as if it was hung fabric starts to make the building feel more like a tent.

The interior of the pavilion is primarily lit from roof-lights. These roof-lights have folded stainless steel deflectors fixed to them to cut out direct sunlight and to pick up the reflection of the pool of water sitting on the roof and channel it into the building. In this way, a gentle breeze across the roof or the sun going behind a cloud will create subtle modulations in the internal lighting of the room.