Friendship Park in Gyumri
Park bench
Our aim was to create not just an ordinary bench, which is more or less a conventional piece of urban furniture, but a fun platform for social interaction. Transformation and multiple scenarios of use are the core ideas behind our design. We like to call it “Public Toy of Interaction” as it is very similar to the wooden toys almost all of us used to love in their childhood. It consists of a connecting deck with integrated and movable elements. Each of these elements could be used separately as a bench or even a table for backgammon or chess. Even the “holes” in the deck are designed to be used as a seating place. The deck itself consists of 5 separate sections. This solution gives us another layer of flexibility as it can be used fragmented, in different areas of the park. The design should force people to act, to transform and play with the public space.
We really hope that this pandemic will end soon and people probably will have to re-learn to socialize again. So why don’t we give them a new “Public Toy of Interaction”?
Marketplace pavilion
The standard marketplace pavilion module consists of a wooden 3x4 meter deck with integrated tracks on longitudinal sides and retractable origami-like booth made of a reinforced pvc membrane. The booth can be resized according to its occupants' needs. Fully closed one has a thickness equal to 1 meter and can be adjusted up to 4 meter in length with a fixed 2 meter width. Its highly flexible and light structure gives multiple scenarios of use. Pavilions can be attached to form a long gallery or they can be put side by side to create a market-like organization. Combined attachments are also possible. The design proposal includes 3 junction terminals: square, triangular and hexagonal ones. These separate structures will serve as a connecting piece to form a flexible spatial organization.
The folding structure is made of light aluminum tubes, and reinforced pvc membrane is a perfect cover in this case, as it is very flexible and firm. One more advantage of a pvc membrane is its environmental quality: it is completely reciclable.
Garden school pavilion
The garden school pavilion has a 10x10 meter floor plan divided into two bloks: serving facilities and a double height area for the school and the events it should host. We envisioned a steel frame structure with a 7 meter cantilever covered with semitransparente polycarbonate sheets, back block covered with black tuff stone which is very specific for the city of Gyumry. The staircase block and the floor of the pavilion is covered with terracotta colored tuff stone which gives a positive feeling to the whole structure.
The pavilion is open to its surroundings which should provoke bypassers to come in, interact and participate. In the cold weather it can be closed with the roller blinds made of pvc membrane integrated into the frame. The proportions and the spatial organization of the pavilion allows it to be used as a multifunctional space.
Location: Gyumri.Armenia
Year: 2020
Status:competition entry