Temporary Storage Garden

Sustainability is an essential and recurring issue in design. Each generation of designers has their own understanding rooted in the era, from the modernist’s adage of form following function to more recent pursuits of energy efficiency, low carbon footprints, and biodegradable materials. The pressures of sustainability are especially apparent in an exposition - in our case, a pavilion that lasts only a week. We wanted to explore an approach to sustainability that is contextual, low-tech, and temporal. It begins with material that could be borrowed and returned, and instead of reshaping it to our will, finds beauty in re-discovering the familiar.

Temporary Storage Garden is our proposal for the Camerich Pavilion at the 2023 China International Furniture Fair. It is about sustainability and rethinking architecture as the thoughtful reuse of materials in a circular economy. We set for ourselves the simple challenge of incurring zero waste in realizing the transient structure. The pavilion is conceived as a temporary storage of materials diverted from the furniture maker’s intricate supply chains and production lines. The borrowed materials are carefully arranged to avoid damage, allowing them to be returned to their original use when dismantled.

The project began with an unusual prompt. Instead of debuting new furniture, Camerich wanted to convey its commitment to social and environmental sustainability through the ongoing transformation of its research and manufacturing campuses. The pavilion is organized around a central garden, reminiscent of the campus’s leafy landscapes. It offers visitors a moment of respite amidst the busy and noisy expo. The seasonal garden also creates a setting for exhibiting the architectural models that foreground the campus’s intimate connection with nature and role in elevating everyday work and life.

The materials are used in direct and honest ways, often learning from how they are utilized in production and taking advantage of their innate qualities to avoid unnecessary damage that may compromise their subsequent use. The ash timber is stacked and tied, forming a stable space frame structure without screwed fixings. The standard 100 m fabric rolls are draped to avoid cutting. The maple tree and plant roots are carefully watered and packaged at the nursery for transport and replanting. The models are displayed on the boxes they ship in. All borrowed items are labeled with their origin and destination - to aid in the logistics of their return after the expo.