Sets Studio and Prototype have collaborated with the House of Europe initiative to produce a mobile pavilion aimed at revitalizing urban communities in Ukraine.
Key features
The Cultural Mobile Pavilion is constructed from only two colours: bold canary yellow and bright denim blue, deliberately making it stand out from existing architecture while also displaying European and Ukrainian pride. The pavilion is installed in different cities in Ukraine to help revitalize urban communities, funded by the House of Europe programme which aims to support cultural infrastructure in Ukraine and creative exchange between the EU and Ukraine. Visitors are encouraged to view it as a playground, with the structure facilitating many different user experiences.
The core of the structure is two amphitheatre blocks with modular components which can be transformed into six different spaces, tailored to the city it’s in. Amphitheatre seating is constructed from Layher scaffolding and Fibreglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP), allowing for easy reassembly. Within the structure, there are spaces for workshops, offices, a library and coffee area. The openness of these functional spaces is achieved with sliding glass doors, further driving social activity in the space. Moreover, the use of easily recycled galvanized metal sheets and durable rubber flooring increases the life of the project while adhering to sustainability goals. Portable furniture takes the modularity further, constructed with a combination of durable metal and more domestic materials such as cushions.
FRAME’s take
Many cities require more spaces for community engagement. In Ukraine, this requirement even more essential; in March 2023, the World Bank estimated that the cost of rebuilding infrastructure and recovery will be approximately $411 billion, showing the extent of the cultural and physical damage from Russia’s war. The Cultural Mobile Pavilion shows the importance of community revitalization throughout Ukraine and signals how portability can foster a wider impact in rebuilding communities throughout the country. Sets Studio and Prototype’s use of durable materials with scaffolding, FRP, galvanized metal sheets and rubber flooring, which allows for secondary use, looks towards the future of pavilions and shows by considering the ‘future human uses, future non-human uses and upcycling’ of the materials. Modular and reusable structures are vital tools as communities continue to struggle with a lack of flexible and usable public space.
