No glue, no rope and no synthetic assembly: Woven Pavilion uses interlocking modules to explore the future of temporary nature-based architecture

Atelier DARN’s Woven is a temporary architectural pavilion in the Les Gavarres landscape of Girona, Spain, created around transformation, decay and regeneration. The structure includes wood with a biodegradable filament made from miscanthus, which is used to 3D print around 700 modular components. The pieces connect through an interlocking system that needs neither glue nor rope and avoids synthetic materials in the assembly.

What happens to a building when its purpose is temporary? Atelier DARN approaches that question via Woven, a temporary architectural pavilion made in the Les Gavarres landscape of Girona, Spain.

The project is established around the ideas of transformation, decay and regeneration. Instead of treating a structure's eventual deterioration as something separate from its design, Woven makes that procedure part of its planned existence.

A structure made to interact with nature

Woven includes wood with a biodegradable filament generated from miscanthus. Using 3D printing, Atelier DARN made around 700 modular components for the pavilion.

Those pieces are assembled by fitting them together, designing a woven structure without the use of glue or rope. The assembly also avoids synthetic materials.

The pavilion starts at the forest floor and extends toward the trees around it. Its form takes inspiration from climbing plants and vines, with the surrounding vegetation and landscape playing a significant role in how the structure is experienced.

Vegetation is meant to grow in the pavilion over time. The structure is then supposed to erode and rot away, eventually becoming part of the landscape.

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Pavilion is made up of modular pieces

What makes the pavilion work is the relationship between the parts. Each modular element leads to the larger woven form by connecting with other pieces.

The components include a cross-shaped section that draws on Catalan architectural references. Atelier DARN’s design is inspired by the columns of the Barcelona Pavilion.

Their four-directional geometry enables the modules to connect with each other and to grow into the larger structure.

Weaving and 3D printing together

The repetitive parts of Woven are digitally fabricated. The 3D printed pieces are not merely decorative elements, their geometry allows them to join together and form the pavilion.

This creates a combination of modern fabrication and a woven structural method. The result is a pavilion assembled from many individual elements rather than a single continuous form.

A temporary pavilion with a natural progression

The project connects its materials, construction approach and eventual transformation. Wood and a biodegradable miscanthus-based filament form the material basis, while the interlocking modules create the pavilion's woven shape.

Its position among the trees and its inspiration from climbing vegetation reinforce the link between the structure and its surroundings.

Woven therefore features temporary architecture as more than a structure that is simply installed and later removed. Its design accounts for the period when it stands in the landscape as well as the gradual changes that are planned to follow.

Through this project, Atelier DARN delves to a form of architecture whose story does not end when construction is finished. The pavilion is made to evolve, weather and ultimately decompose, making transformation an important part of the work itself.

Source: designboom and Yanko Design