Finishing the Concrete and Framing the Walls

 

We had lots more work to do getting ready for the final concrete 

pour. Here you can see our neighbor Hank helping us mark the deck 

footing so we could place the sono-tube in the right spot. 

He is marking on the concrete with a soapstone pencil. 

 I love this exercise in practical abstraction!

 Here's Kevin tamping down the soil with 'the wacker' inside

  the foundation, around the plumbing pipes. 

Lots of sweat equity went into this task.

The final load of concrete came.   

Sorry no pictures of this, as it was impossible to take photos 

and 'screed' or smooth the concrete at the same time. 

But here is a nice picture of a ladder resting firmly on the solid concrete floor. 

Next step was to frame the addition walls. 

We realized we needed help, and hired local carpenter Jeremy 

Hanrahan to make sure we got it done right. He did an excellent 

job with the unconventional joinery between the vertical walls 

and the faceted dome surface.

 Lucky us, we had the excavator on hand to help us raise the walls. 

What fun!

 Next step was to place the rafters for the roof.

Finally, the kitchen/ bathroom addition is built! 

More pictures to come of the entryway addition and the roof lines, 

hopefully with cladding in preparation for the winter...

This pretty much describes my 'feelings' at this stage....

Creating the Footings

After much planning and preparation, we finally poured the footings for the dome additions and deck. 

 

Here you can see the super-cool surveying tool used to plot how deep to dig the hole for the concrete forms, loaned to us by local builder Paul Roberts.

 Our neighbor Hank arrives with the excavator and the skills to dig a near-perfect depth for the forms to sit in.

 

Kevin and I built the plywood forms to hold the concrete. Here you can see the forms for the deck footings, placed in their locations with the help of a floating twine grid. 

Very Land-Art, NE Thing Co., right?

The concrete truck arrived, and we filled the forms with cement with the assistance of Paul and another neighbor, Harry. We were just short of enough concrete to entirely fill the forms, so will have another session this week.

Domestead 2012!

 

Work has begun again on The Pavilion, which is currently being re-envisioned as a self-contained living machine on a rural property in the Heffley Creek area of BC.

As such, it is being re-designed to survive all seasons of weather, and include a kitchen/bathroom area, with running water and electricity.

Here are some drawings of the new design, created in collaboration with artist Kevin Schmidt (drawings by Schmidt).

This summer, Schmidt and myself, along with help from friends, volunteers, and project sponsors Jane Irwin and Ross Hill, will create the addition areas and the building envelope.

Check in regularly to see the work in progress!

 

 

The Pavilion has found a new home!
The Pavilion's time at Langara College in Vancouver came to a close in the fall of 2010.

It was disassembled, and all 105 pieces were shipped up to the Heffley Creek area of British Columbia (about 45 minutes north of Kamloops). Thanks to the generosity of Vancouver-based art collectors and patrons Jane Irwin and Ross Hill, The Pavilion is being re-built as a permanent structure at their Art Ranch, a rural extension of their GreyChurch Project Space.

In June, 2011, over 23 friends and volunteers pitched in to help begin the process of reconstruction in the first annual Domeraising party.
Thanks to everyone who came out and pitched in!

This is the first stage in what will likely be a long-term building venture, making the Pavilion a self-contained site for future projects in relation to it's new rural context.

Stay tuned for future posts and updates on the project, and wish me luck in getting it weatherproofed and fully functional!

the closing party was a blast, thanks Von Bingen!


Sadly, The Pavilion project has come to an end.

Thanks to everyone who supported this project, either by volunteering during the build phase, contributing your fantastic artwork and ideas, and to all those who came out to the events.

It was a really amazing experience for me, and I hope for others as well.
I will be posting tons of pictures over the next while, so keep checking in...
there are some good ones!

Please join us for the final event at The Pavilion
TONIGHT!!

Friday, April 30, 8pm-midnight

For its bon-voyage celebration The Pavilion will host a live experimental music performance by Von Bingen, who will utilize the unique ambient acoustic of the geodesic dome to highlight spatial resonances and experience.This performance will be followed by a set by DJ Magneticring.

and still on view outside the Pavilion:
 
Possibly Possibly (Flag) by Jen Weigh and 
Statminlaxed by Joshua Batholomew 
on view outside the Pavilion until April 30.

About The Pavilion 
The Pavilion is a project by Langara College artist-in-residence Holly Ward.
Symbolic of difference and utopian thinking, The Pavilion is a geodesic dome
intended to serve as acatalyst for speculative thinking and artistic
experimentation.
 
The Pavilion is located at 100 west 49th ave, 
just one block east of the 49th Avenue Canada Line skytrain stop.

April is the last month of events at the Pavilion!
Please join us for our last opening:

April 14, 6-9 pm
Open. Uh. Open it. Uh. Uh. by Kate Sansom
Possibly Possibly (Flag) by Jen Weih
Statminlaxed by Joshua Bartholomew

 
Open. Uh. Open it. Uh. Uh.
on view April 15-24, 
Thurs, Fri, Sat, 1-5 pm

Possibly Possibly (Flag) & Statminlaxed
on view outside the Pavilion, April 14-April 30


Open. Uh. Open it. Uh. Uh. is based on the Arecibo Message, a logographic
system beamed into space by late astrochemist and foremost proprietor of
popular astronomy, Carl Sagan, and his associates in 1974. The site functions
as a realm of interception, observation and interpretation of one possible version
of our hedonistic future. Drawing, sculpture and video are used to convey
Sagan’s utopian project of creating a universally understood language.
 
 
Possibly Possibly (Flag) is the second in an ongoing series of flags that
are to be flown until they are destroyed by the wind. The flag is marbled
using a traditional fabric dyeing technique that produces unique monoprints,
and features a Necker cube, a drawing that shifts its perspectival orientation
according to which element of the form the viewer focuses their attention. 
Possibly Possibly (Flag) is a permanent gift to The Pavilion.

Statminlaxed re-creates Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Map, a map that
eliminates graphic distortion and thus the representation of global influence,
out of black fabric which is subsequently burned. Documentation of this burnt
flag is presented on a freestanding interpretive panel outside of The Pavilion.
By re-organizing the word Dymaxion, (a word which incorporates 'dynamic',
maximum, and 'tension' that Fuller used to designate a variety of projects),
into Staminlaxed (a word that Bartholomew relates to a combination of 'static',
'minimum', and 'relaxed'), this new flag questions the possibility of global democracy.
By photographing this burnt flag, the destabilized object then becomes re-
aestheticized and repurposed as display.

About The Pavilion
The Pavilion is a project by artist-in-residence Holly Ward. Symbolic of difference
and utopian thinking, The Pavilion is a geodesic dome intended to serve as a
catalyst for speculative thinking and artistic experimentation.

 
About the Centre for Art in Public Spaces
The Langara College Centre for Art in Public Spaces engages communities in the
research, production, and presentation of art in the public realm. The Centre encourages
dialogue, and fosters opportunities to collaborate on, experience and learn about art in
public spaces. 
 
The Pavilion is located at 100 west 49th ave, 
just one block east of the 49th avenue Canada Line skytrain stop.