Michigan architects Synecdoche stacked up timber offcuts to construct this pavilion in Atlanta, Georgia, held together by gravity alone.

Called Edge Condition Pavilion, the tower weighing two and a half tons is tied to the ground by cables for safety.

The hardwood rods are the only material used and will be recycled when the pavilion is dismantled.

The design won first place in a competition run by Young Architects Forum of Atlanta, who funded its construction.

More stories about pavilions on Dezeen »

Here are some more details from architects Lisa Sauve and Adam Smith:

Edge Condition

Utilizing a by-product material as a means of invoking the temporary pavilion with a temporary material wood edges cut from hardwood boards give a standardized object to build upon creating a field in which to inhabit.

By operating on the edge of definitive material, neither board nor wood chip, the wood edge becomes the temporal object between two phases.

In the same light the pavilion offers the capacity to be an edge condition of construction. The methodical mode of stacking and maneuvering the edges is in itself on the edge of a mode of construction.

The flat stacking method gives way to opportunities for expansion and contraction of the volume between the material.

The variable of stacking techniques allow for light to move into the pavilion only through the spaces between the edges transforming the edge condition into an ephemeral effect.

The standardized one inch thick wood edge and weight of the hardwood compress the stack into a inhabitable nest stabilized by its dimension and assembly.

While dis-assembly is the reverse operation, the disposal of the material is a process of returning the wood edges to the hardwood mill as to re enter the recycling process that would otherwise take place.

Sponsors: wood edges donated by Hardwoods of Michigan in Clinton, Michigan. Young Architects Forum of Atlanta, Octane Coffee Bar, AIA Atlanta, Modern Atlanta

Ann Arbor crew: Christopher Holzwart, Mary O’Malley, Sarah Petri, Kyle Shobe, Robert Yuen

Atlanta crew: Emily Bacher, Keith Brockman, Jason Diehl, Adam Glenn, Nathan Koskovich, Carolina Montilla