London Design Festival, 2011
Timothy Hatton Architects designed and built a free standing pavilion at Portobello Dock for the 2011 London Design Festival. The Pavilion was an architectural exploration into Concrete Canvas, a new fabric-like material which solidifies on contact with water. The design showcases the potential of Concrete Canvas as a viable building material in areas of humanitarian crises. The modular structure was built with five component pieces combined without the use of mechanical fixings.
The repeating oscillating wave forms were selected for their low and wide weight distribution making the walls structurally suited to cope with aftershock tremors from earthquakes.
Component pieces were made on site from a re-useable formwork; the canvas was draped over this, hydrated and removed once set, usually between 12-15 hours.
In combination with collapsible formers it would be possible to assemble a completely waterproof and fireproof building within 2-3 days.
