On Tuesday, the team made up of New York–based nonprofit Figment, the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter's Emerging New York Architects Committee, and the Structural Engineers Association of New York officially announced five finalists for the 2018 City of Dreams Pavilion Design Competition. According to Figment, the winning proposal will be announced by the end of this month and will be erected on Governors Island in New York, where it will be on display from June to August. This year's City of Dreams Pavilion marks the program's eighth iteration since launching in 2010.
When opened in May 2017, the competition brief asked for a sustainable design that will have minimum impact on the environment. It asked entrants to provide a detailed submission of "where their materials are to come from, how their structures will be transported to the site, how they will eliminate waste during installation, and how they plan to disassemble and reuse the materials after the island closes for the season." The entrants were also encouraged to reuse salvaged construction materials, work with manufacturers that produce cradle-to-cradle products, and seek sponsorship from socially and environmentally responsible organizations.
The 2018 jury comprised David Benjamin, founding principal of New York–based The Living; Anna Fixsen, senior web editor at Metropolis magazine; Benjamin Gilmartin, AIA, partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Anna Ha, partner at Jersey City, N.J.–based Behin-Ha Design Studio; Jorge Otero-Pailos, AIA, director and professor of historic preservation at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; and Brooklyn, N.Y.–based artist Risa Puno.
Below are this year's five finalists:
Color Waves Pavilion
The Color Waves Pavilion is a light, colorful structure that will make use of recycled fishing nets and rods. It will feature a gathering space enhanced by colorful fishing nets that create a whimsical play of light and shadow under the sunlight. According to the competition's press release, "abandoned and discarded fishing gear makes up about 10 percent of trash collected in the world’s oceans, creating a major threat to the well‐being of sea life." The materials used in this project will be reused for decorating interior spaces as well as fishing after the island closes for the season.
Project team: Shujie Chen, Xiao Tong, Ning Wang, AIA, Yifeng Wang, Yifeng Wu, Bowen Zhang, Matthew Streeter, Jingwen Wang, and Sam Wilson.
Follicle: A Toxi‐Cartographic Proposal for New York City
Made of deformed screen doors clad in human hair, the Follicle pavilion features the amount of minerals, toxins, and nutrition existing in our bodies by using Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA). "The results are rendered visible in the space through color‐coded strings suspended from the interior, which can be read by visitors as an inverted toxi-cartographic map of the city," according to the release. Each string features information, including a QR code directing to an interactive website, that offers information about the minerals. "By manifesting itself through hair and revealing its mineral content, Follicle expresses architecture and urban ecology as much as it empowers citizens through information."
Project team: Deborah Lopez, Hadin Charbel, Mika Portguaise, Francisco Prada López, and Anders Rod.
Mossgrove
Scaffolding posts will create two gathering spaces underneath a wooden lattice that will be covered with moss‐treated biodegradable fabric. "By varying the size, depth, and density of the moss, the clearings can be tuned to be more or less porous to the park, allowing greater focus on programs within or connectivity to the park beyond," noted the same release.
Project team: Sam Biroscak, Gina Dyches, Stephanie Borchers, Annick Lang, and Anneli Rice.
Oculi
Designed by Ithaca, N.Y.–based Austin+Mergold, Oculi is made of deconstructed metal grain bins, an abandoned industrial structure that is widely found in the rural landscape of the northeastern United States. The project features a series of elevated circular structures that each offer a wide oculus to the sky. Each opening "registers the path of the sun, producing a range of shadow patterns below, augmented by pattern, color, and sound," according to the release. Upon the island's closure for the season, the bins will be reused to create an experimental housing project in New York City, titled House‐in‐a‐Can.
The Rainbow Pavilion
Designed by French architect Christophe Cormy Donat, the Rainbow Pavilion is a cloud-shaped woven structure made of reused plastic bags and sustainable products. "Upon inspection, visitors will see the familiar logos and brands of their favorite supermarkets and clothing stores woven into the fabric of the building," says the release.
