Our inflatable pavilion for the Lille Museum of Modern Art is featured in Jacobo Krauel's new book "Inflatable: Art, Architecture & Design", published by Links.
LaM pavilion in "Inflatable: Art, Architecture & Design"
LaM article in the TensiNet newsletter
We have just received a copy of the latest newsletter from TensiNet, the European network for the design and realisation of tensile structures. This issue features an article about our award-winning inflatable pavilion for the Lille Museum of Modern Art (LaM).
The curvature of our double-skin inflatable structure, for the Lille Museum of Modern Art
Nice to be involved with the TensiNet people again. It's been a long time since I co-authored the chapter on the environmental design of tensile structures, in the European Design Guide for Tensile Surface Structures they published in 2004.
2hD's inflatable pavilion wins RIBA East Midlands Award
We're proud to announce that our inflatable pavilion for Lille Museum of Modern Art has been awarded an RIBA East Midlands 2011 award.
The annual Awards celebrate 'excellence in architecture and encouraging sustainable design' and were held at the Athena in Leicester on 22nd September.
Tom and Alina accepted the award from Ruth Reid, ex-president of the RIBA and were joined at the ceremony by Nick Crosbie of Inflate, who did the specialist design, fabrication and erection of the pavilion.
ArtHitectural on our WAF Awards shortlist
The architectural news blog ArtHitectural has published an article about our inflatable event space, recently shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival Awards 2011 in Barcelona.
The Architects' Journal on the WAF shortlist
The Architects' Journal reveals the list of all entries shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival Awards 2011, including our inflatable pavilion for Lille Museum of Modern Art, in France.
2hD shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival Awards!
Our inflatable pavilion for the Lille Museum of Modern Art, in France, has just been shortlisted for World Architecture Festival Awards 2011. No need to say we are chuffed! We'll be presenting the project to the jury in Barcelona on 3rd November. We are shortlisted in the Display category, along with seven other projects from all around the world.
Our shortlisted pavilion at night, next to the Lille Museum of Modern Art and its sculpture park
2hD in RIBA journal
A great article on East Midlands regional architecture practice has appeared in the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. It features 2hD's Alina Hughes talking about her dual roles in practice and education, and the importance for the region of retaining talented graduates.
LaM Pavilion: some technical information
As we get many enquiries about the inflatable event space we recently designed for the Lille Metropole Museum of Modern Art (LaM), here's a little technical summary.
Dimensions
- Usable internal area: 360 m2
- Overall footprint: 400 m2
- Max dimensions: 40 m (length), 15 m (width), 19 m (overall width), 8 m (height)
Anchors
- Ground anchors: 500 mm deep Terra-bolt screws (or equivalent traction anchors, metal or plastic), every 2 meters of perimeter
- Ballast (alternative): 500kg every 2 meters of perimeter
Inflation system
- 15 centrifugal fans (12 active plus 3 backups), 1.5 kW power each, equipped with noise silencers.
- All fan units wired to pressure-sensitive alarm system
Materials
- Main surface: Ripstop Nylon, white translucent
- Air beams: PVC coated polyester, white
Feel free to contact us if you need more information...
2hD at Lincoln Architecture Society
The Lincoln Architecture Society invited 2hD along to give a talk as part of their evening lecture series. I was genuinely impressed by the professionalism of the students who run the society — an excellent welcome pack in my email a few days before the event giving all the info I needed to get to there and a warm welcome and introduction.
Here are a few of the slides from my talk, which covered the Sky Vault project, the barn conversion in the Dordogne, our work on the NTU architecture course, Mission Control (our hairy micro-office), our Structures on the Edge shortlisted competition entry and the inflatable event space.
Their lecture series looks great — it brings kudos the the Lincoln School of Architecture and is definitely worth checking out if you are in the East Midlands. Take a look at their website.
Portfolio project
A pavilion for a Museum of Modern Art
2hD were commissioned by the Lille Métropole Museum of Modern Art (LaM) to conceive an innovative pavilion to host the ceremonies, celebrating the museum’s re-opening after five years of refurbishment and extension works.
Challenging the existing negative paradigm of event tents, we designed a diaphanous inflatable textile structure to create a mesmerising spatial experience for visitors to the art museum and a striking backdrop for its high-profile public events.
The pavilion at dawn, against the rectilinear backdrop of the museum (Photo: Yves Morfouace)
The pavilion's diaphanous inflatable skin
Our collaboration with LaM started in March 2010, when the museum invited us to submit ideas for an event structure to host up to 350 people for large scale events, ranging from official receptions to dance performances.
Excited by our proposal of a large scale inflatable structure but unsure about its feasibility, the museum initially commissioned us to produce a comprehensive study covering all relevant aspects of feasibility, including the erection process, structural modularity, internal micro-climate, functional analysis, budget simulations and health & safety.
We then teamed up with Inflate, experienced makers of successful inflatable event structures, to produce a custom-designed pavilion that was versatile enough to host the wide spectrum of events envisaged by the museum and that fitted within the tight budget of this not-for-profit art organisation.
Complementing the orthogonal lines and hard materials of the existing buildings and the urban park surrounding them, the lightweight translucent envelope and organic lines define a transient space between the park’s outdoors and the museum itself, welcoming and orienting visitors in their exploration of the extensive art collections. The pavilion also acknowledges and creates a playful dialogue with the many large-scale modern sculptures inhabiting the museum grounds.
The pavilion is designed to adapt to a wide range of future uses, from public reception to theatre performance.
The structure was first installed in September 2010 to host thousands of visitors for the week long opening festivities. Beyond this, the pavilion will also provide a flexible and iconic new space to host the wide variety of future events to be held on the museum grounds, ranging from theatre performance to public lectures and outdoor interactive video installations.
Press releases and high-resolution images suitable for publications are also available in our press section.
“The enjoyment with this wonderful pavilion is so great that everyone — despite the summer weather outside — wants to be inside it, and all faces are lit up with joy!”
Awards
This pavilion received an architecture award from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) East Midlands in the Out of Region category, in September 2011.
This project has also been shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival Award 2011.
At night, the integrated lighting system transformed the structure into a beacon, softly glowing in the park.
Inflatable events space debuts at Lille Museum of Modern Art
Alina and Thibaut are on site for the official opening of the Lille Museum of Modern Art and have been hard at work seeking opinion on — and taking photographs of — our inflatable event space in the grounds.
French Culture and Communications Minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, described it as “very beautiful” during an official tour of the reopened museum yesterday — after diverting from his official route to view the inflatable.
Alina spoke to artist Barbara Gaul (a.k.a. ANNAH), from Düsseldorf, Germany, who said: “The enjoyment with this wonderful pavilion is so great that everyone — despite the summer weather outside — wants to be inside it, and all faces are lit up with joy!”
She also spoke to guest Simone Few, who told her: “Not only is it functional but also very sensitive and protective”. Clearly a woman of excellent judgment and, as it turned out, wife of jazz musician Bobby Few.
For more information, see our press release section and our portfolio page about this project.
Event space interior view
Our event space for Lille Museum of Modern Art was inflated today — a process that took just 10 minutes. This is the first view of the interior, taken by Thibaut shortly after inflation and uploaded to our Flickr group for this project:
Freshly inflated...
Interior view of the curved envelop
There is still a lot to do before the official opening tomorrow, including the installation of flooring, lighting and doors. The team are hard at work... but just two days ago it looked like this:
The whole structure, arriving on site on a small trailer
For more information, see our press release section...
Inflatable event space goes on site
We have designed an inflatable pavilion for the Museum of Modern Art in Lille, France. The pavilion will house events celebrating the re-opening of the Museum, from 21st to 26th September 2010.
On reopening after more than 4 years of refurbishment and extension, the Museum wanted to hold its celebratory events in a striking alternative to the standard marquee. They called on Thibaut's specialist knowledge of fabric and membrane architecture, and Alina's design flair to come up with the idea for the events pavilion.
Located in the sculpture park at the entrance to the Museum, the pavilion will be the focal point for a week-long programme of events, including the formal opening of the Museum by French Culture and Communications Minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, on September 21st.
The inflatable structure and flexible design mean that the pavilion can be simply depressurised and stored after the celebrations, ready to house future events ranging from theatrical performances to video installations.
The organic shape of the pavilion is meant to stand out from the Museum buildings behind, making it a clear focal point for arriving visitors. It will help to welcome and introduce people to the extended Museum and its huge, exciting collection of Modern art.
Inflatable structures are an excellent way to cover a large area for events. They are more efficient and interesting than traditional tent marquees. The lack of rigid poles gives a clear floor area, they are quick to set up, look fantastic during the event, and then fold away into a tiny storage area.
Designed to hold up to 350 people for events and performances, the pavilion is constructed of lightweight fabric by specialist manufacturer Inflate and was shipped to the Museum site in a single container.
When pressurised with electric fans the double skinned fabric rapidly deploys to form a rigid but organically-shaped enclosure, covering a space 40m (130 feet) long by 15m (50 feet) at its widest point.
For more information, see our press release section...
Inflating the LaM Pavilion
After being deployed and anchored, our LaM Pavilion was inflated today, in 10 minutes!
Testing our new inflatable pavilion
We were commissioned last March by the Lille Métropole Museum of Modern Art, in France, to conceive an innovative pavilion to host the ceremonies celebrating the museum’s re-opening after five years of refurbishment and extension works.
Challenging the existing negative paradigm of event tents, we designed a diaphanous inflatable textile structure to create a mesmerising spatial experience for visitors to the Art Museum and a striking backdrop for its high-profile public events.
We have teamed up with Inflate, experienced makers of successful inflatable event structures, to produce the custom-designed pavilion that fitted within the tight budget of the not-for-profit art organisation, while being versatile enough to host the wide spectrum of events envisaged by the museum, from official receptions to dance performances.
We have just received the photos of the first inflation test of the structure at Inflate's workshop and we are quite thrilled! (Images: Inflate)
More on this after the installation of the structure in Lille at the end of September!
Update: for more information about this project, see our press release section and on our portfolio...
