The winner of the City of Dreams Pavilion Competition 2010, the sustainable design of Ann Ha and Behrang Behin’s Living Pavilion, has been installed on Governors Island for the summer 2010 season as a temporary central gathering and assembly point for arts activity on the island. The competition sponsors (FIGMENT, The Emerging New York Architects... read more

The winner of the City of Dreams Pavilion Competition 2010, the sustainable design of Ann Ha and Behrang Behin’s Living Pavilion, has been installed on Governors Island for the summer 2010 season as a temporary central gathering and assembly point for arts activity on the island. The competition sponsors (FIGMENT, The Emerging New York Architects Committee of the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (ENYA), and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY)) worked with the winning team to have the Living Pavilion on Governors Island for the summer season. Ann Ha and Behrang Behin of Living Pavilion imagine a future in which nature is brought back into the city – not replacing its dense vitality, but adding some ‘green’ to the mix. Technologies such as green roofs and green walls will reduce heat-island effect and mitigate storm water runoff. Urban farms will provide nutritious locally grown produce to urban dwellers while making them more aware of where their food comes from. These developments will not only have a positive impact on the city’s environmental footprint, but will also enrich the lives of New Yorkers: they will add a new dimension to the urban experience, making possible new forms of spatial and architectural expression. Living Pavilion is a low-tech, low-impact installation that employs milk crates as the framework for growing planted surface similar to a green wall. Living Pavilion aspires to create a synthesis of form, structure, light and life. The pavilion’s surface is planted with hanging shade-tolerant plants that will provide an environment maintained at a cooler temperature because of evapotranspiration from the plants. At the end of the season, the pavilion’s modular design will allow easy disassembly and distribution of the planted milk crates to the New York area for use in homes, public places, and community gardens. Ann and Behrang worked with Kari Katzander and Sarah Bray of Mingo Design for Green Wall Technology and Plant Selection, Yunlu Shen of Buro Happold for Structural Analysis, and Farhad Behin and Bahram Sayari for construction prototyping. Tietz-Baccon sponsored the CNC Milling. GreenThumb donated plants. Daniela Morell acted as pavilion foreperson. collapse