Archifest 2016: Pavilion to Refresh the City With Colour Therapy
From September 23 to October 9, Archifest brightens up Raffles Place with a vibrant escape to inspire Singaporeans to rethink architecture
Archifest, an initiative of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA), is celebrating its tenth run with, literally, a colourful festival. The event is described by SIA as “a platform for all walks of life to discuss, debate and deliberate architectural issues.” This year’s theme is ‘Exhale’, encouraging Singaporeans to pause and rethink our built environment. And the winning pavilion design for this year’s festival is DP Architects‘ RGB Pavilion.
The team that designed Archifest 2016’s RGB Pavilion. Photo courtesy of DP Architects
DP Architects’ pavilion design team, represented by lead designer Ms Ang Guo Zi, Associate Director, as well as Mr Chin Thoe Chong, Director, talk about their Instagrammable design and the mood-enhancing effect of colours they used in it.
DP Architects’ pavilion design team, represented by lead designer Ms Ang Guo Zi, Associate Director, as well as Mr Chin Thoe Chong, Director, talk about their Instagrammable design and the mood-enhancing effect of colours they used in it.
How does the pavilion ‘make its visitors come alive’?
In the spirit of this year’s Archifest theme ‘Exhale’, the pavilion seeks to refresh the city by injecting vibrant swathes of colour in public space. The pavilion presents a wider spectrum of colour than is currently found in that specific locale and this invites visitors to focus, reflect and appreciate their surroundings with a fresh eye.
Humans have an automatic response to colour; the psychology behind it shows that people’s moods can be influenced by different hues. Some scientists maintain that the different electromagnetic energies and wavelengths of colour elicit not just psychological but even physiological responses.
The pavilion seeks to visually stimulate the senses and ‘make its visitors come alive’ in the following aspects:
1) Evoke automatic psychological responses to the pavilion’s vibrant colour spectrum
2) Primary colour layers interact lightly to create secondary colours – this layered shift evokes the immediacy of the third dimension, which is essential to this property of change
3) Gradations of light and colour shift with one’s changing viewpoint and focus, this creates an intimate, visceral real-time relationship between the RGB Pavilion and its viewer
In the spirit of this year’s Archifest theme ‘Exhale’, the pavilion seeks to refresh the city by injecting vibrant swathes of colour in public space. The pavilion presents a wider spectrum of colour than is currently found in that specific locale and this invites visitors to focus, reflect and appreciate their surroundings with a fresh eye.
Humans have an automatic response to colour; the psychology behind it shows that people’s moods can be influenced by different hues. Some scientists maintain that the different electromagnetic energies and wavelengths of colour elicit not just psychological but even physiological responses.
The pavilion seeks to visually stimulate the senses and ‘make its visitors come alive’ in the following aspects:
1) Evoke automatic psychological responses to the pavilion’s vibrant colour spectrum
2) Primary colour layers interact lightly to create secondary colours – this layered shift evokes the immediacy of the third dimension, which is essential to this property of change
3) Gradations of light and colour shift with one’s changing viewpoint and focus, this creates an intimate, visceral real-time relationship between the RGB Pavilion and its viewer
Is the selfie tunnel open air?
The selfie tunnel is kept unsheltered for various reasons but beyond the technical and practical considerations due to site specificities, the team also wished to create a sense of airiness and lightness. We sought to define a realm that exists loosely as an ‘in-between’ space, somewhat like a fog – not entirely an enclosure and yet not entirely open either. It can be read as an immersive environment when captured from a particular axis yet from another perspective it partially ‘dematerialises’ (abstract, not literal), becoming subservient to its surroundings yet again. It all depends on the viewer’s focus or field of view, what they choose to capture in their frame, which particular slice of the narrative they wish to delve in and to convey in their images.
What do you mean by the pavilion being ‘habitable’?
It was loosely applied to mean that one can dwell in this space, for a limited time. What we perceive as inhospitable or conversely ‘suitable for human dwelling’ (habitable) differs greatly in different communities – socially, culturally, climatically.
The selfie tunnel is kept unsheltered for various reasons but beyond the technical and practical considerations due to site specificities, the team also wished to create a sense of airiness and lightness. We sought to define a realm that exists loosely as an ‘in-between’ space, somewhat like a fog – not entirely an enclosure and yet not entirely open either. It can be read as an immersive environment when captured from a particular axis yet from another perspective it partially ‘dematerialises’ (abstract, not literal), becoming subservient to its surroundings yet again. It all depends on the viewer’s focus or field of view, what they choose to capture in their frame, which particular slice of the narrative they wish to delve in and to convey in their images.
What do you mean by the pavilion being ‘habitable’?
It was loosely applied to mean that one can dwell in this space, for a limited time. What we perceive as inhospitable or conversely ‘suitable for human dwelling’ (habitable) differs greatly in different communities – socially, culturally, climatically.
How was the urban fabric of Raffles Place considered in the design of the pavilion – is the pavilion intended as a landmark, or to harmonise with its site?
The pavilion is intended to provoke curiosity and interest, its height and vibrancy of colour are meant to stand in counterpoint to its surroundings. Raffles Place is an urbanised environment, densely built, hard-edged, polished, monochromatic (not in the strict scientific definition but qualitatively to mean fewer, limited colours, muted). In contrast the pavilion is soft-edged, visually light, polychromatic, ephemeral (a transient entity with a two week lifespan).
The pavilion is intended to provoke curiosity and interest, its height and vibrancy of colour are meant to stand in counterpoint to its surroundings. Raffles Place is an urbanised environment, densely built, hard-edged, polished, monochromatic (not in the strict scientific definition but qualitatively to mean fewer, limited colours, muted). In contrast the pavilion is soft-edged, visually light, polychromatic, ephemeral (a transient entity with a two week lifespan).
Are the construction netting and steel scaffolding specified for the pavilion previously used?
Shanghai Chong Kee Furniture & Construction Pte Ltd is the main contractor for this year’s Archifest pavilion; they are an approved steel scaffolding erector and the pavilion’s steel scaffolding comes from their existing stock. The scaffolding is a pre-used resource and will indeed be reused on other construction sites after the RGB pavilion is dismantled. The netting is mostly newly procured due to the wider range of colour required but it will have an afterlife in various construction sites after the festival ends, this is all in keeping with the ‘zero-waste’ criterion SIA outlined in the design brief.
How will the construction netting achieve the colour saturation shown in the renders?
The pavilion is composed of multiple layers of netting to achieve overall density in colour and form. The saturation of colour will be calibrated by choice of the netting’s density and closer spacing between the layers of netting.
Shanghai Chong Kee Furniture & Construction Pte Ltd is the main contractor for this year’s Archifest pavilion; they are an approved steel scaffolding erector and the pavilion’s steel scaffolding comes from their existing stock. The scaffolding is a pre-used resource and will indeed be reused on other construction sites after the RGB pavilion is dismantled. The netting is mostly newly procured due to the wider range of colour required but it will have an afterlife in various construction sites after the festival ends, this is all in keeping with the ‘zero-waste’ criterion SIA outlined in the design brief.
How will the construction netting achieve the colour saturation shown in the renders?
The pavilion is composed of multiple layers of netting to achieve overall density in colour and form. The saturation of colour will be calibrated by choice of the netting’s density and closer spacing between the layers of netting.
How would visitors understand the significance of the materials?
There will be exhibition panels and materials within the pavilion during the event to explain the concepts and ideas underpinning the pavilion design to the public.
Archifest 2016 will be at Raffles Place Park from September 23 to October 9, 2016. Watch this space for programme information and features.
TELL US
What are you looking forward to seeing at Archifest this year? Let us know in the Comments section.
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There will be exhibition panels and materials within the pavilion during the event to explain the concepts and ideas underpinning the pavilion design to the public.
Archifest 2016 will be at Raffles Place Park from September 23 to October 9, 2016. Watch this space for programme information and features.
TELL US
What are you looking forward to seeing at Archifest this year? Let us know in the Comments section.
MORE
Singapore at the Venice Biennale: ‘Space to Imagine, Room for Everyone’
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Out of 25 entries, the winning design was selected for its refreshing concept and smart approach to zero waste. Composed entirely of construction site materials – safety netting suspended on a frame of steel scaffolding – DP Architects’ gigantic technicolour urban sculpture plays on the interaction of multiple primary colour layers that overlap to create a playful psychedelic pavilion.