Archivo Pavillon
Text of the competition entry:
Clay? As a child you get dragged through museums of badly lit harsh reflecting displays with little figures who got their heads chopped off or are missing a leg; spoons next to broken cups, centuries old.
Preachers will tell you that you are a descendant of some guy whose wife was cut out of his torso, he himself made of clay.
In Guatemala early humans were not so lucky. Made of earth and mud they soaked up water and dissolved. After they are created from wood, “but they did not have souls, nor minds.” They lose favor with the gods who cause them to be beaten and disfigured before receiving a deluge of heavy resin. First success of creation came out of maize dough (according to Popol Vuh).
Clay has existed for centuries and it is here to stay, we could even call it an emergent material something that every civilization discovered on their own, and therefor has been the story teller, witness, and evidence of many lives and households. It has been part of design, since before design existed, and it has always been part of Mexican life.
We chose to use pots as an object of design, to be recreated by us and used as an architecture material. Going back down to earth and being surrounded by earth, adding plants to it to create a living pavilion, that will grow and mold, and when the time comes to tear it down, you can just do it as they did in the old times, break it in too little pieces back into the ground.
