Tent London and gallery The Lightbox have announced the shortlisted projects in a competition to design a pavilion at the gallery in Woking, UK.

The shortlisted projects will be on show alongside other entries at The Lightbox from 31 March until 12 April. Above: IN & EDIT Architecture.

The winning design will be announced on 6 April and constructed for exhibition at Tent London during the London Design Festival in September, before moving to the gallery. Above and below: Karim Muallem.

More details on the competition website.

Here's some more information from Tent London:

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Announcement of the Shortlisted

Tent London and The Lightbox are delighted to announce the shortlist for The Art Fund Pavilion architecture competition.

The competition received an overwhelming level of interest with over 600 entries from 52 countries, including Columbia, Georgia and Iran. Above and below: Tina Manis Associates

Applicants were asked to design a semi-permanent pavilion, which will serve as additional gallery space for The Lightbox. The museum and gallery, which is already housed in a RIBA Award-winning building by Marks Barfield Architects, have decided to mark their award of the £100,000 Art Fund Prize by investing in architecture again by initiating and financing this competition.

The entries were reviewed by an elite panel of judges that included the Director of The Architecture Foundation, Sarah Ichioka and the Turner-Prize nominated artist, Richard Wilson. Above and below: Feix&Merlin Architects with Martin Stockley Associates

The Shortlisted Entries are as follows:

• AREA [Architecture Research Athens], Greece
• Feix & Merlin Architects with Martin Stockley Associates, UK, www.feixandmerlin.com
• IN & EDIT Architecture, France
• Karim Muallem, UK
• Tina Manis Associates, USA

The shortlisted entries and other applications that demonstrate the range of work submitted to the competition will be exhibited at The Lightbox from 31 March - 12 April 2009 and the winner will be announced on the 6 April 2009. Above and below: AREA

The winning entry will be engineered and constructed by Facit and shown as part of Tent London during the London Design Festival 2009, before taking up residence at The Lightbox.

AREA, Greece

“We believe that good architecture operates within the given parameters to transform abstract building systems into specific material investigations. Projects acquire meaning when they relate to their site and their community, both through form and program. We see the Art Fund Pavilion as an important opportunity to offer its community a new place of exploration and social enjoyment.” AREA, www.areaoffice.gr

Feix&Merlin, UK

“The Lightbox have created a fantastic opportunity for a wonderful piece of micro-architecture, and we hope to give them a pavilion that is high impact but low-cost, one that is sustainable and efficient in its use of materials, flexible in its architecture, and ultimately a pavilion that has a bit of magic about it, a bit of intrigue, and almost certainly some naughtiness.” Feix&Merlin Architects with Martin Stockley Associates, www.feixandmerlin.com

IN & EDIT, France

“The Art Fund Pavilion competition has been a great opportunity for IN&EDIT to pursue our reflections on post-industrialized sustainable issues. By using continuous variations on a standard pattern, we propose to use the full possibilities of a computerized controlled process: optimized wood cutting allowing each piece to be different. The assembly of the pre-mounted elements like a 3D puzzle, will reveal a sustainable, ludic, inviting, segmented and yet a continuous structure.” IN & EDIT Architecture

Karim Muallem, UK

“Complexity in design need not be always in the complexity of the form but rather in the complexity of its responsiveness. Clever designs are not always about the elaborateness of the shape but rather in there adaptability. The idea was to start with a simple unassertive compact box, and through a process of responsive transformation triggered by crowd movement and function alterations end up with a highly adaptable and exiting form.” Karim Muallem

Tina Manis Associates, USA

“It’s difficult to ignore the global scale of financial crisis that engulfs us at this time. And in this particularly rich time of global economic shifts, architecture and creative thinking has the opportunity to be at its highest. Often, conflict coincides with true invention and in order to make the most of these moments, we should return to the elemental disciplines in life that make it wonderful; such as art.” Tina Manis Associates, www.tinamanis.com

Quotes from the Judges:

“The unprecedented level of interest in this competition may be attributed to a global slowdown being experienced by many professional practices and the special interest associated with the prospect of designing a public building/space, be it even a small public space - a definite tick box on most architects list of dream projects.” Jimmy MacDonald, Tent London

“When we established this competition, we hoped it would stimulate interest from designers, but hardly imagined that it would receive this kind of global recognition. It is also wonderful that professionals take The Lightbox seriously and want to be involved with our award-winning building.” Marilyn Scott, Director, The Lightbox

“Along with the other members of the jury, I was impressed by entrants' rigour and inventiveness in meeting the competition brief, and I am particularly delighted that the shortlisted entries represent a wide range of international practice.” Sarah Ichioka, Director, The Architecture Foundation

“The response to this competition - a really imaginative use of The Art Fund Prize by The Lightbox - has been astonishing, both for the number and variety of entries and their creativity. It was difficult to select just five, and any one of them could be a worthy winner, which makes the task of making the final choice a real challenge. One thing is for sure – whichever design is chosen, The Art Fund Pavilion is going to be a new jewel in the crown won for Woking by The Lightbox.” David Barrie, Director, The Art Fund

“The Facit team was really impressed with the quality of applicants for The Art Fund Pavilion. The shortlisted entries cover a wide variety of methods to which our system can be applied. This has been a great opportunity for us to see how others interpret our design approach to CNC technology in architecture. The five finalists illustrate the diversity to which our system can be applied, and we look forward to producing the winning structure.” Dominic McLausland, Facit