How to design (and assemble) a pavilion

Mastercard’s Tourism Innovation Hub experience

Abstract

The goal of this essay is to illustrate a very personal and, though, hopefully general approach to the concept of “temporality” in contemporary architecture. With the empirical example of Mastercard’s Tourism Innovation Hub (TIH) we’ll try to walk our readers through the meanings of modularity, repetition, transportation, systematisation, economy, easy assembly and disassembly, quality within the core idea of ephemeral architecture. Starting off with a short introduction about what means “temporal” (as the opposite of “permanent”) since the Roman tratadist Vitruvius to some contemporary ephemeral proposals to a more extensive description of our TIH as a modern way of reinterpreting Augustine Taylor’s famous “Ballon Frame” diverting towards the creation of a Hans Arp three-dimensional oasis. A stand/pavilion that addresses temporality from the very beginning of the design process to the last phase of disassembly and storage.