Air Frame Pavilion
In concept and fabrication, the 650-square-foot Air Frame Pavilion by Rios Clementi Hale Studios takes its cue from automotive design. Sheathed in a glossy steel skin, the room functions like a high-performance vehicle through sculptural form and sleek surfaces that hide complex internal building systems. It’s packed with high-tech amenities and components concealed by immaculate detailing. In order to provide effortless, year-round comfort, the pavilion adapts to changing weather by raising or lowering shades, maneuvering glass walls, and activating heating and sound systems via touch-screen control. The pavilion fluidly integrates natural beauty and technological sophistication, a unity heralded by its seamless surface condition.
The design is a study in sophisticated simplicity. Its minimalist, sculptural form comprises a taut steel skin, planar walls, and cantilevered roof. The pavilion’s bare minimalism and siting are intended as a calm presence on the hilltop site for the contemplation of 180-degree panoramic vistas of the Los Angeles basin and Pacific Ocean. There is a subtle, compelling mix of function and feeling, lightness and permanence, sophistication and modesty, structure and sculpture. Thought of as an addition to the clients’ extensive art collection, the pavilion’s concept, design, and fabrication were approached by the architects as a fine-art commission. Conceived as sculpture, Air Frame Pavilion was designed and crafted with rigorous precision to allow views from within the pavilion to be the dominant experience rather than the architecture itself.
The bold, sculptural form stands in conversation with the strong geometry of the existing residence—a 18,000-square-foot home designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects in 2000. The pavilion’s minimalism in form and material allows it to be sited so close to the large house without looking diminutive. The placement also extends the daily living spaces into the pavilion’s interior, while a subtle asymmetry maintains the existing view corridors and exterior circulation path. The result is a seamless integration into the carefully orchestrated composition of house and site, both from the exterior and interior.
The Air Frame Pavilion is a study in mass and void—with more concentration on the latter rather than the former. The massive steel walls of the pavilion are pushed out to the extremities so the voids can be filled with the view. Clear, low-e glass window walls pocket into the structure to afford breezy openness and options for comfort during year-round weather conditions. Floor-to-ceiling sun shades and ceiling heaters also mitigate climatic circumstances. The primary material of the structure is its 3/4"-thick steel plate skin, which has been welded, sanded smooth, and finished with glossy white automotive paint to simultaneously create monolithic and ephemeral appearances. The result, as the architects describe it, “is a perfect, seamless surface.” The strategy adroitly amplifies the smooth, simple sculptural effect, as the pavilion is placed near outdoor steel sculptures.
The “perfect” simplicity of the skin and details belies the complexity of concealing myriad building systems—motorized sliding doors, shade screens, HVAC, infrared heaters, fiber-optic lights, imbedded flat-screen television, and integral sound system. Rios Clementi Hale Studios’ work for the pavilion also included designing a console and fire table as well as furniture and lighting selection. The bright-white furnishings atop light stone flooring emphasize the pavilion’s purity of shape and reiterate the gallery-like feeling of the structure.
Above it all is a roof deck with a perimeter of glass sheets. The viewing deck is connected to a second-floor bedroom in the main house via a thin steel-plate bridge. The bridge also doubles as a covered walkway to the pavilion from the first-floor breakfast room. The viewing deck is covered with synthetic turf for year-round green and easy maintenance.
