An innovative pavilion in front of Sydney's Customs House will explore how fabric can change the scope of people's engagement with architecture.
The Flowing Light Pavilion, designed by three Master of Architecture Students from the University of Sydney, has been selected for the CH4 Competition as part of The Sydney Architecture Festival.
The CH4 Competition is an initiative of the Government Architect's Office and The Sydney Architecture Festival in collaboration with Customs House to showcase student architecture.
Using technologies and techniques developed in the Digital Architecture Research Studio, the Flowing Light Pavilion uses synthetic fabric to provide a new way for people to engage with architecture.
Within the Pavilion the audience confronts traditional architectural notions of enclosure, light and shadow, context and environment. However, these familiar areas are given new scope through the use of fabric.
Fabric has vastly different characteristics to conventional building materials and can provide insights and responses to both the physical environment and human interaction.
Fabric's susceptibility to change is largely unexplored in the world of architecture, and the pavilion will explore the ability of fabric to reflect the direction of the wind or the movement of a person and the way this movement can alter light and shadow in a given space.
The fabric used in the structure is recycled banner materials from the City of Sydney and the integration of solar photovoltaic lighting technology illuminates the structure at night.
The pavilion will be exhibited in the forecourt of Customs House from October 20-31.
