By Tudor Tenea

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Connection to Harringay Warehouse District

The design is inspired by Harringay’s self build aesthetic with a focus on upcycling of materials to generate a creative, colourful vernacular architecture. The area’s warehouse typology is also reinterpreted by expressing the pavilion’s structural skeleton as a sculptural element. This structure creates an open air shell that the local artist community is free to organize according to their needs. The intention is to empower the local community to use the pavilion as a canvas to express themselves.

Proposal Outline

The key driver behind the pavilion is flexibility. Integral to the design is the structural framework which not only establishes a hierarchy of spaces but also articulates the pavilion with a rhythm that establishes a dialogue with the busy boundary roads.

The current entrance location on the site’s corner is retained but is reworked to draw visitors in from the street to the central gathering area. Structural columns at the entrance are extended towards the sky to act as a landmark with banners to promote the pavilion from Seven Sisters Road. Eade Road is a quieter side street therefore it is proposed that the main run of fence is screened with a solid panel for privacy. This panel can be treated like a canvas by artists in the area to showcase local talent and add more colour to the warehouse district. A secondary service entrance is proposed on Eade street at the boundary to Cara House. This is to allow for deliveries during events and also recycling/waste to come in and out of the site.

The central gathering space has a timber portal frame spanning across it to support a roof overhead, sheltering the area from the elements. Reclaimed timber from salvage yards is proposed as the main material for the structural frame, to give the pavilion a weathered feel. The space below is intended to be flexible with the option to suspend tensile fabric to subdivide the space for events. The fabric can also be used for outdoor projection screenings for events. The roof is proposed to be clad in polycarbonate sheeting to provide light permeability into the space. During night time events the polycarbonate can be lit up to glow like a coloured beacon drawing people in.

Similarly, seating can also be flexible by stacking or connecting to create different configurations. Elements like platforms, seating and counters would be allowed for but the layout of the space would depend on the event type and would only be limited by the user’s imagination. Outdoor furniture can be made from pallets as an homage to Pallet Paradise (in combination with scrap metal where applicable). Planters and greenery is encouraged to increase community ownership and engagement. These can be housed in upcycled metal containers from the local scrap yard near the site.