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Architects: OLI Architecture PLLC
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Albert Cheung Photography
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Manufacturers: Accoya
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Lead Architects: Hiroshi Okamoto, Dongshin Lee
Text description provided by the architects. Located on a private estate in Bedford, New York, LX Pavilion is a site-specific structure named for the Richard Serra sculpture it houses, London Cross (2014). The pavilion is designed to not just be a container but an integral component of the artistic experience, becoming spatially, figuratively, and contractually the “art” itself.
Constructed in a carefully choreographed sequence with the sculpture installation, LX Pavilion is a quiet sanctuary where time and space merge. Wrapped in charred Accoya timber, the facade is intended to naturally patina marking the passage of time, yet unlike many of Serra’s outdoor sculptures that measure time and space through material transformation, London Cross is protected by this intervention. The interior of the pavilion also emphasizes transience and the passing of time.
A north-facing sawtooth skylight distributes soft indirect lighting into space which changes throughout the day, offering an ever-changing experience of London Cross. The sculpture itself is physically connected to space, composed of two fifteen-ton weathering-steel plates measuring 40’ long, 7’ tall, and 2-1/2” thick, the lower running diagonally between two corners of the room and the other perched atop. These are held in place by a specially constructed hydrated-lime wall partition which eliminates construction joints.
The project came to OLI through Serra himself, with who the firm had previously collaborated, designing an abstract trapezoidal granite pier as a base for his 80-foot-tall sculpture, 7 (2011) at the Museum of Islamic Art Park in Doha. The artist worked closely with OLI throughout the design process for LX Pavilion, choosing the site with them and even sharing a copy of a Japanese joinery book from his library.
