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Architects: Woven
- Area: 24 m²
- Year: 2016
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Photographs:Anna Horčinová, Vera Kiseľová, Lorcan Koethe
Text description provided by the architects. WORKSHOP [1:1] is being organized by WO|V|EN annually since 2013 as a form of a summer school. Last summer's edition (18. - 29. July 2016) took place at a special location, on an island called Lido, splitting and regulating the river Váh in a popular spa town Piešťany in Slovakia. For the first time, it was organized in collaboration with a local NGO Centrum architektúry. The main goal of the WORKSHOP [1:1] is to design and build wooden structures in a one-to-one scale in ten intense days and to broaden the practical skills and experience of architecture and design students.
The participants do not only gain experience in the field and learn a new set of skills but also their craft work remains on the site and becomes a vital part of the place. Last summer, eight international participants from different architecture schools were led by two tutors, architects experienced in the field of timber construction - Ransu Helenius from Finland and Tobias Foged Permin from Denmark.
The design process was supported by a landscape architect Sebastian Sowa from Germany, architect Lorcan Koethe coming from Switzerland and local architects Benjamin Brádňanský, Vito Halada (n/a architects) and Peter Lényi. Neither the topic nor the site were specified beforehand but emerged on spot from the initial design process that took about four days, while the rest was dedicated to building.
The students came up with an idea of an object wedged into a forest near the tip of Lido island. Inspired by the view to the sky shining through the wildly growing trees and the ivy carpet, which make this space rather unused, they created an iconic space immediately recognized and attracting people. Its name, UWO (unidentified wooden object), is a playful reference to its "unidentified" function without any recognizable structural sign how to use it and also to its alien appearance intentionally out of the context of local nature, without a direct relationship to the bent trees. People curious to climb in and experience the atmosphere tend to use it to relax, chat and drink, while the children love to just madly run around. On the opening day it became a special stage for a multimedia-dance performance.
The supporting structure is made of layered timber profiles of douglas fir, bent to the required shape by using a jig. Screwed and pegged through they hold the curve. These beams were then assembled into eight wedges and put together straight on site. The resulting object is of a diameter of 5,5 meters and weights about 600 kg.
Throughout the years WORKSHOP [1:1] became a movable event of sorts, travelling from town to town, bringing life to forgotten places with potential or faded past. Next year's edition, the fifth WORKSHOP [1:1] is going to bring its experience and experiments to a beautiful scruffy castle park of a small town Stupava, Slovakia.
