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Architects: gruppa2020
- Area: 35 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Elizaveta Trudova
“Fireplace” Pavilion was constructed for the 2020 edition of the musical festival SIGNAL that takes place in Nikola-Lenivets art-park in Russia. SIGNAL is an outdoor music festival, which is the reason why guests need dedicated areas to hide from bad weather and keep warm on cold nights. “Fireplace” is a shelter with its walls consisting of 30 cubic metres of logs, that also serve as kindling wood for the fire. By using logs as the construction material of the pavilion, “Fireplace” serves as both a storage unit of firewood and as a place for guests to keep warm. The use of firewood throughout the festival constantly transforms the appearance of the pavilion.
As guests empty the walls for the firewood, unpredictable patterns from the void appear on the facades. Steel reinforcement bars are the second essential construction material, providing stability as well as the visual permeability of the whole structure. The frame is composed of 8 tonnes of rebars welded to each other by 16 thousand welding points. The pavilion encloses three core spaces.
There are two opposing entrance areas alongside the main focal point — the fireplace above with an oculus. The entrances to “Fireplace” are located at a distance from the main area, near the corners. When a guest first enters the pavilion, he has a choice to either join the company sitting around the fire or to leave unnoticed. It’s particularly important for our team that we personally went all the way from creating the concept to kindling the first fire.
For example, trusses alone consist of 240 handmade elements and each one of them was created directly on the construction site. We also dug 20 cubic metres of the pit with our own hands and laid each log in the right place. As a result, the entire pavilion was built in just 14 days and 4 nights. Having visited the festival anonymously, we were able to hear unbiased feedback from the guests of “Fireplace”. The majority stated that in their opinion the pavilion is vital for this event and significantly contributed to its ambiance. It was important for us as the authors that the guests felt cozy and warm. They only have to place the logs.
