Rio Kobayashi & Webb Yates

25 Sept

Written By Vickie Hayward

Rio Kobayashi & Webb Yates
Off The Shelf Pavilion
Installation, 2024

Image by James Harris

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Image by Christian Cassiel

Image by Christian Cassel

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Heterophylly by Cynthia Fan

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Visiting Albion Stone to select the objects that act as ballast.

Plant sculpture workshop with Cynthia Fan

Drawing Workshop with Steve Webb

Drawing workshops with Steve Webb

Stone sampling workshop with Liang-Jung Chen

Brush making workshop with Flavia Brändle

Curation and commissioning for Olympia in London, ‘Off The Shelf’ Pavilion by Rio Kobayashi & Webb Yates is the first public realm intervention as part of the redevelopment of the site.

The British Douglas Fir sway frame draws inspiration from both Olympia's heritage architecture and the traditional Japanese wooden homes of Rio's childhood. The collaboration blends together furniture making with large scale structure engineering techniques. Remarkably, the pavilion is constructed using next to no screws, joints and material alterations, it is instead assembled from standard components that are cleverly weighted, prestressed, or clamped together.

The ballast for the structure is composed of blocks of Portland Limestone, borrowed from Albion Stone. The rocks date back to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic period and are from the same quarry as the decorative features on the original Olympia Grand facade. Rather than being hidden away, the ballast becomes part of the work and has been carefully arranged and tied on to the structure using hemp rope and the Tomeishi 'Stop Stone' technique.

Made from standard components that are cleverly weighted, prestressed, or clamped together the pavilion to be easily disassembled back into its original, off-the-shelf parts, the bulk of which can be returned, reused, or resold. Although minimal, the structure is dotted with detail, painted end grains, gold leaf and wind chimes. A versatile space for observation of the elements, exhibition, and entertainment. The grid like structure set the stage for "On the Shelf", a lively program featuring exhibitions, workshops, performances, and interventions from friends and neighbours, including works from Cynthia Fan, Sanne Visser, Flavia Brändle and Liang-Jung Chen.

Company
Rio Kobayashi, Webb Yates, Cynthia Fan, Sanne Visser, Flavia Brändle, Liang-Jung Chen, The White Wall, Beam Lighting, Albion Stone, Donna Walker