UP. Urban Pavilion

Urban Pavilion is the winning project of the 2010 Archetypes competition. The organizers of the competition, with the support of the Bucharest City Hall, have successfully completed the authorization stage of the pavilion, and the technical design of the construction is in full progress. The pavilion will be built in Victoriei Square in Bucharest in June-July and will be inaugurated during the first stage of ARHETITIPURI 2011.

"Well-being derives directly from innovation, not optimization; thus, well-being is achieved not by perfecting what is already known, but by imperfectly appreciating the unknown" - Kevin Kelly, "New rules for the new economy", Wired. The motivation behind this project is to initiate a dialogue between members of Romanian society today. UP attempts to capitalize on an empty urban space, actively managing the relationship between full and empty through which it comes into being.

The boundaries between inside and outside are very vague. The solution proposes an intervention that is both visible and subtle at the same time, delimiting the spaces and creating a flexible scenography, capable of accommodating a wide variety of human interactions.

Connecting the concept of the explosion with that of the constellation was a natural step which then led to the development of the strategy of using the pavilion as an urban socialization network.

The UP begins its life as a white, artificial composition, which, over the course of a year, will gradually be colored and swallowed up by the plants flowing from the top of the poles. It thus takes on a temporal dimension and transitions between the 'sea of asphalt' and the 'green tongue' behind it. The events that will complement it in the months to come also serve to 'color' it.

The second edition of the Archetypes competition will run from May to September 2011. More details on www.arhetipuri.ro