The pavilion is clad in more than 4,000 red
Architects Daniel Libeskind www.libeskind.com
metalized tiles that Libeskind designed
Photographs Hufton+Crow
with the Italian company Casalgrande
Padana. The geometric ceramic panels not
only create an expressive pattern that is
evocative of a dragon-like skin, but also
possess highly sustainable self-cleaning
and air purification properties. The threedimensional surface is coated with a
metallic coloration that changes as light
and viewpoints shift.
At times it will appear as deep crimson,
then a dazzling gold, and even, at certain
angles, a brilliant white. The tiles are
installed with a state-of-the-art cladding
support system that gives a rhythmic
pattern and mathematical form to an
every turn of the head, the space and story
architecture and exhibit design, exhibit
otherwise supple, torquing shape. Two
appears anew: it is rich and layered; it is
design and media production, artists
spiralling stairs, echoing the form, ascend
at once fragmented and simultaneously
and patrons. The result is a rare creation
the pavilion to the south, and to the north
reads as an enthralling, shattered whole.
indeed: a large-scale, extraordinarily
from the Lake Arena entrance, serving
complex experience that feels as if it
both as circulation and seating.
The narrative vacillates between chaos and
were drawn by one hand,” said Alex Vlack,
calm. The frenzy of life in the city is starkly
director of the media. The top level of
Inside the pavilion, visitors encounter an
juxtaposed with the extreme slow motion
the pavilion provides a private space to
exhibition space filled with a constellation
of a communal meal, first in its preparation
accommodate small events and host VIPs.
of 200 screens mounted to a matrix of
and then in its consumption. The
bamboo scaffolding. The forest of screens
message—about the power and possibility
The intimate room features an open
and bamboo floats above a winding
to forge connections and build community
layout, a large skylight that ushers in
reflecting pool that borders the visitor
through food—is meant to be understood
natural daylight, Casalgrande Padana tiled
pathway. As visitors move through the
more viscerally than intellectually.
flooring, bamboo veneer wall coverings
space, a ten-minute narrative experience
unfolds across the screens and over 22
channels of audio. With each step and
and a dramatic hand-blown glass
“The Vanke Pavilion exhibition was the
chandelier designed by Libeskind for the
result of many symbiotic forces: between
Czech artisanal glass company Lasvit.