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PAVILION

PROJECT TITLE

URBAN ARTEFACT PAVILION

CLIENT

THE JOHN RUSKIN PRIZE

LOCATION

SHEFFIELD- United Kingdom

The Urban Artefact pavilion brief: The John Ruskin Prize is looking to expand and surpass the confines of the art gallery and to harvest the possibilities of interdisciplinary work with architecture. The submissions have been predominantly in two-dimensional media for that last 4 years, with a surge of art objects and installations in the 2017’s instalment; therefore, the desire to emphasise three-dimensional submissions in the 2019 competition was reflected by the collaboration with the RIBA Yorkshire. 

The John Ruskin Prize 2019 aims to uphold Ruskin’s beliefs whilst challenging the nation’s creatives to consider their role as catalysts of change, urban dwellers, civic beings, socio-political commentators and material innovators. Open to a broad range of interpretations, the prize organisers are inviting entries from a range of creative architects in response to the theme: “An Urban Artefact- change in the city”.

  

The theme provides a unique opportunity for artists and architects to create an urban intervention that captures, and is inspired by, the true nature of the city, focusing on producing an intervention located in Sheffield’s Train station square. 

ADAPT Studio. took part in this wonderful opportunity in creating an ‘Urban artefact’ for The John Ruskin Prize. Using the process of 3D Printing we have created an artefact which was inspired by artist Richard Serra. We are fond of Serra’s work and it has inspired us to create this fabulous artefact which takes on a few concepts and ideas as well as reflects on the civicness of Sheffield.

The concepts that are used in order to take on this challenge were:

Movement and the fluctuation between the inside and outside

Movement is a displacement from one side to the other side. We sought to create works which engage in movement by allowing the sculpture to navigate around the viewers.  

This was also a site specific concept to attract and draw people to move towards the design or around it which navigates the audience or allows them to move from an empty space to a focal point or an hierarchy as well as giving an experience of fluctuation of movement in and out of space without being in/out of the space. Serra's work has various aspects which create a variety of continuous movements in and out of his sculptures.

Repetition and Layering

Repetition is the act of reproducing one concept multiple times to create the field of work. It is difficult to create something without a foundation that is rigorous, incontrovertible and repetitive as Serra once stated. It is a way to jumpstart the indecision of beginning. To persevere and to begin repeatedly is to continue the obsession with work.  

 

Allowing the use of layering to create a grid to form the basis of the curves and artefact allowing it to replicate as construction lines.

Disorientation and change of perception

Loss of one’s sense of direction, position, or relationship with one’s surroundings.

A temporary or permanent state of confusion regarding place, time, or personal identity. Creating works which are completely destabilizing inside, because your visual coordinates to the left and right are totally challenged by the sculptures created.

 

The only way to try get semblance of where you are is to look up. When you look up, you realise the plane you’re standing on is not in line with the one you’re looking out of. Using this we could take it as a positive and explain or show how works or sculptures can start disorientated however, slowly merge into something which is oriented or gives a sense of direction.

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