Description:ephem-er-al, adjective, from the Greek ephemerous; lasting a day. jour-ney. noun. from Old French, journee; day's journey. An ephemeral object, by its very nature, is bound to the idea of journey, to the passage of time in the object's movement and the transient nature of the object's structure. This project takes as its point of origin two interrelated ideas. The first is ephemerality: the collapsible, packable, foldable, demountable nature of the structure. The second is the idea of journey or passage: the movement of and through the object. As an ephemeral structure, the object is a part of the city, dismantled at dusk to reappear elsewhere in the morning, a covert operation. And, as it travels, it writes its own journey. It is remote from site, removed and displaced from site in its very conception. It lacks site specificity but is simultaneously highly specific to each new environment it encounters. Each new configuration, each new location writes it and it in turn writes the story of the city it journeys through. Whilst an ephemeral exhibition space conceptually raises issues of viewing and displaying techniques, it also requires a structural system that is able to host an event to simultaneously be an event itself. The pavilion responds to these conditions and reinforces the ephemerality of its nature not only in the experiences of its spaces but through its technical specifications. The ramp and stairs mark the two entrances to the pavilion, leading the way into the main exhibition space. Both of these circulatory elements serve an dual purpose: the ramp doubles as exhibition space and the stair provides a seating/viewing area for the audio-visual displays. The ramp and stair introduce the visitor smoothly to a specific event - the main exhibition space - and in doing so differentiates between the level of exhibition space - and in doing so differentiates between the level of exhibition and the surrounding urban landscape. The bi-directional circulation is produced through two synchronized folding systems: a series of hinged metal sections and a PVC skin. These systems are combined through the concept of folding to transmit the ephemeral character of the pavilion. Once the main structure and the skin are assembled, the pavilion folds, is able to be transported in this condition and unfolds on-site. The floor and the electrical and mechanical installations are then assembled. The secure space of the pavilion occupies a minimum of 50-square meters (variable with configuration). The material elements of the pavilion enable a variable morphology promoting the idea of the ephemeral through explorations of folding, unfolding and refolding, which translates, literally into a packable, collapsible, foldable and demountable structure. the proposal's component system allows for the structure to be easily dismantled (unfolded), and reassembled (refolded) on another site.
