IPT Architects creates rib cage-like pavilion using wooden frames

Visitors can stroll through free-standing wooden frames in this pavilion that IPT Architects has installed outside the V&A Museum of Childhood in east London.

London studio IPT Architects designed Dream Pavilion in collaboration with their carpentry workshop Ecospace. It is intended to provide an interactive space that visitors can either walk through or spend time inside.

"The pavilion aims to provoke discussions about architectural aspirations and creativity through exploring geometries to create inspiring spatial forms," explained architect Amira Idris-Town.

"We feel there can be a fine line between a dream and reality, thus the perception of the pavilion constantly shifts from solidity to transparency depending on the vantage point," she said.

Made from sheets of oriented strand board (OSB) – a kind of engineered chipboard – and untreated mild steel, the freestanding sections frame a pathway through the centre of the structure.

Visitors access each end through a chunky doorway, but as they walk through the wooden sections become further spaced apart.

"The pavilion structure creates inspiring and ever-changing shadows according to the movement of the sun, forming spaces with a sense of tranquillity, beauty and mysteriousness," added Idris-Town.

A collection of small wooden blocks are positioned on each side to provide seats.

The architects won the annual competition organised by Archtriumph to create a summer pavilion in the garden. It will remain in place until the end of June, as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

It follows the inflatable 2013 pavilion by Paris studio Atelier Zündel Cristea, which comprised a twisting and undulating white tube.

Photography is by Giacomo Cannata.

Here's some more information about the project:

Dream Pavilion

Dream Pavilion is a self-supporting structure measuring 4m in height and approximately 59 m² in area, constructed primarily out of OSB sheet, timber and untreated mild steel. It is the design of a London based architecture practice IPT Architect working with Ecospace to realise the vision of a shifting form from solidity to transparency as an interpretation of the dream theme.

The Pavilion is a showcase structure to spotlight the work of an architect or design team and invites visitors to dream about a unique space, creating a place, achieving an ambition or simply being inspired by a series of thoughts, images and sensations within the unique setting of the Museum gardens.

Architect's Vision Statement

The pavilion aims to provoke discussions about architectural aspirations and creativity through exploring geometries to create inspiring spatial forms. Although there is a prescribed circulation route through the pavilion, thresholds between inside and outside are blurred and visitors can weave through the spaces towards the perimeter seats for further reflection.

We feel there can be a fine line between a dream and reality, thus the perception of the pavilion constantly shifts from solidity to transparency depending on the vantage point. The pavilion structure creates inspiring and ever-changing shadows according to the movement of the sun, forming spaces with a sense of tranquillity, beauty and mysteriousness.

The pavilion was fabricated by our sister company Ecospace, that design and build flexible modular buildings from garden studios to education buildings and homes.