Children’s Art Pavilion

The Children’s Art Pavilion was constructed in 1996 as a temporary art space beside the Newcastle Region Art Gallery. Its lifespan was to be three years, however it remained in use as a children’s art space for sixteen. The Pavilion enclosed a left over outside street space of the Gallery, making it a courtyard holding a large existing eucalyptus tree. Conceptually a verandah space with incrementally inclined walls, the folding internal geometry playfully challenged the visual perception of the usual perpendicular space.

In 2012, as a gesture toward the redevelopment of the Gallery, Newcastle City Council proposed to demolish the Pavilion. But where the usual process of demolition creates waste, we argued a moral right that was embedded within the design of a temporary building. For temporary buildings, the architects moral right exists not only within its final construction, but also in its removal. Very few buildings when they are designed consider both their construction and de-construction at the same time. A process of de-construction was negotiated with its owners, and on the evening before it began, the now abandoned Pavilion was used as a performance for the projection of One of These Days.  The following morning the de-construction of its thin surfaces began as a form of celebration; carefully sliced, the remnants of past events were taken by the public to eventually become more useful things.