Dismantling Pavilion Holds Future Public Seating

One of the challenges faced with temporary buildings for events is what to do with them when they are no longer needed. Madrid based collective Zuloark may have solved this problem with their Information Pavilion for the European Capital of Culture held in San Sebastian, Spain this year.

Named “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow”, the temporary building has served as the information hub for those attending the event over the last several months. Painted with colors to represent the capital, the building was built to blend into the landscape. But this is more than just an information pavilion. After the event closes, the pavilion will be disassembled and reused as benches throughout the city; resulting in 278 “bowtie” benches.

Zuloark Pavilion

Zuloark Pavilion

Zuloark Pavilion

Zuloark successfully explores the potential for material reuse in designing this project. From an architectural stand point, the potential for reuse makes this project more sustainable. The building will one day service a range of people, in either the form of an Information Pavilion or street furniture.

Zuloark Pavilion

Zuloark Pavilion

Dismantling the pavilion will not be done in a conventional way. A plan is required to sort out the bench dismantling system, the share-out process, and the end destination for each bench. Agreements will be met among local agents, technicians, and public administration to decide the final destinations of the benches. For now, the pavilion will remain intact for the duration of the European Capital of Culture event, and will be dismantled once the event closes at the end of December.