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148 - 150 Curtain Road
Back Building
London EC2A 3AT

 

© Glowacka Rennie Ltd  

The Parachute Pavilion Open Design Competition invited designers to “stretch the limits of what a pavilion could be, both formally and programmatically”, connecting it to both the history and future of Coney Island. To inspire our response to the brief, we begun by researching the history of the site and Coney Island and focused on two main themes: that of perception altering devices such as camera obscura and ‘funny mirrors’, and that of covert courtship and intimacy, which historically took place on the rides of Coney Island. We also wanted the pavilion to address both its immediate context, and to also be an instrument for surveying the wider surroundings.

In our design for the Parachute Pavilion, the upper gallery space is saturated by north light, the lower restaurant in contrast is a camera obscura - which translates as 'dark room.' Views are brought down into the restaurant through periscopes, positioned to take in key sights of Coney Island. The folded ceiling of the restaurant mirrors its diners bringing life and colour to a predominantly blackened room. Instead of windows there are real time projections of the big wheel, the rollercoaster and panoramic views of the sea interspersed across the ceiling.

The external envelope mirrors its immediate context, the boardwalk and Parachite Jump.  Passers by are encouraged to interact with its playful reflective surface - one large 'funny mirror' creating Daliesque manifestations upon its ever changing surface.

PARACHUTE PAVILION, NY, USA

Client: Van Alen Institute

Lead Designer: Glowacka Rennie

Project Stage: Competition