CHART Architecture announces pavilion competition finalists

Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Thank you for signing up to Wallpaper. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
CHART Architecture, an offshoot of the Copenhagen based art fair, has announced the finalists for its pavilion competition. Inspired by the theme ‘materiality’, the challenge was to rethink how materials could be used in different or new ways to build a sustainable future.
The international jury (including Wallpaper* design editor Rosa Bertoli) sorted through 54 proposals of experimental approaches submitted by a wide range of inter-disciplinary practitioners across the Nordic region. The five creative finalists selected approach topics such as consumerism, recycling and biology through their maverick and playful designs that combine materials such as foam, latex and salt crystals in unexpected ways.
Salaria Pavilion, CHART Architecture finalist 2019 by Cristina Román Díaz and Frederik Bo Bojesen
Each design challenges how we perceive materials, and asks how we could rethink what we already know about a material to allow it to be used in a new way. ‘Sultan’ repurposes the materials of an IKEA mattress, and in its new formation the mattress is totally unrecognisable. ‘Rock Paper CNC’ takes recycled paper to make it look like stone, and in the ‘Cell pavilion’ latex cells come alive mimicking the shape of a living organism.
The aim of the competition is to provide a space for young architects think outside the box – and build into the real world: ‘At most art schools, one works with their art form in 1:1, at the film school, the visual arts school, the theatre school, and the design school, it is simply at the core of the learning process. At architecture schools, on the other hand, students do not have the opportunity to work with materials at such a scale, and as a newly graduated architect, few students get to work with projects that are particularly experimental,’ says David Zahle, partner at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and chair of the CHART Architecture jury.
Cell pavilion, CHART Architecture finalist 2019 by Josefine Rita Vain Hansen and Marie Louise Thorning
More than just an experimental installation, the pavilions have a serious responsibility – they will be hosting CHART’s bars and restaurants during the fair (which runs 30 August – 1 September). A few other functions were squeezed in too – the ‘Salaria Pavilion’ hopes to draw attention to the importance of salt and ‘Snug as a bug in a rug’ seeks to provide a comfortable place for visitors to rest their weary art-fair-fatigued legs. Aesthetically, the finalists are all distinct, and a visit to the Charlottenborg courtyards is promised to be a fun-filled affair of experimental architecture. And – if your don't catch them there – CHART is collaborating with the Copenhagen Architecture Festival so the pavilions will be shown again in 2020.
Sultan, CHART Architecture finalist 2019 by Anne Bea Høgh Mikkelsen, Katrine Kretzschmar Nielsen, Klara Lyshøj and Josefine Østergaard Kallehave
Rock Paper CNC, CHART Architecture finalist 2019 by Oskar Koliander, Diana Smiljkovic and Gustav Kjær Vad Nielsen
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the CHART website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Rose Tarlow and Perennials present a second collaborative collection of fabrics and rugs
Perennials by Rose Tarlow features eight textiles and four rug designs that nod to the English countryside with a quiet colour palette and subtle, abstract geometries
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
50 years of Agape: exploring five decades of innovative bathroom design
Italian bathroom brand Agape turns 50, and founders Emanuele and Giampaolo Benedini celebrate with an exhibition looking back at their personal and professional journey
By Cristina Kiran Piotti Published
-
Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2009: the story behind the wine
Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2009 is the harmonious result of fruitful endeavours by the French champagne house and its cellar master Vincent Chaperon
By Simon Mills Published
-
Cave Bureau uses geology to refocus and understand the relationship between architecture and nature
Cave Bureau’s exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art opens in Denmark, marking the latest – and last – entry in the gallery's The Architecture Studio series
By Marwa El Mubark Published
-
Nordic architecture explored in Share, a book about contemporary building
Discussions about Nordic architecture and contemporary practice meet in a new book by Artifice, Share: Conversations about Contemporary Architecture – The Nordic Countries
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
BIG’s Refugee Museum of Denmark addresses ‘one of the world’s greatest challenges’
BIG has converted and extended buildings at a Second World War Danish refugee camp to create the new Refugee Museum of Denmark
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
Aalborg’s Utzon Center exhibition celebrates the Danish holiday home
A new exhibition at the Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark, titled ‘Holiday Home’, focuses on the iconic Danish sommerhus
By Jonathan Bell Last updated
-
Kengo Kuma’s Hans Christian Andersen’s House mixes nature and fairytale architecture
Odense's Hans Christian Andersen’s House by Kengo Kuma opens its doors in Denmark, inviting the public to explore nature and fairytales
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Villa Kirk is a surrealist-inspired, futuristic home in Denmark
Spol Architects crafts a ‘hedonistic’ house extension in Denmark, Villa Kirk, featuring curves and attitude aplenty
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Greenland's Qaammat Pavilion for Unesco celebrates land and people
Architect Konstantin Ikonomidis designs Qaammat, a pavilion just above the Arctic Circle in Greenland, that celebrates the local landscape and the Inuit community
By Nick Compton Last updated
-
Snøhetta goes underground at the Ordrupgaard Art Museum
Snøhetta unveils new subterranean extension at the Ordrupgaard Art Museum in Denmark
By Shawn Adams Last updated