Wasteland Pavillion

Design by: Alsar Atelier 
Construction Year: 2022
Location: Colombia
Area: 52m²


Ephemeral architecture holds infinite opportunities for the creation of conscious interventions that have a positive impact on society and the environment. Unfortunately, in contemporary society, ephemeral architecture is mainly used for trade fairs, leaving this architectural typology as a negative symptom of global consumerism.

The Wasteland Pavillion, set up at the Interzzum 2020 trade fair, is born from the following question:

How can architects design sustainable ephemeral architecture for short-term events and trade shows?

The design proposes to answer this question by analyzing the wood industry as a starting point. Despite being an economic sector that has adapted well to the new sustainability trends, the mass production of wood is one of the industries that generates large amounts of waste annually.

The Wasteland Pavillion is an experimental architectural exercise that upcycles materials that are usually considered waste. The design manages to demonstrate that, through rigorous design, the ordinary connotation of residual materials can be transformed into sustainable examples of ephemeral architecture.

Through the use of, MDP RH panels, bark, sawdust, and plastic waste, an innovative design that invites the user to interact with residual materials is rendered.

The exercise seeks to inspire other designers to be more aware in the choice of compositional materials while designing temporary interventions to prevent ephemeral architecture from contaminating our planet further.