VeloDome Pavilion
A floating workshop and lecture space repurposing discarded bicycle frames and single-use plastic bags on London’s Regent’s Canal.
Client: Architecture Foundation
Location: Hackney
Cost: £25,000
Status: Unbuilt
Category: Public, Competitions
Visualisations: APE Architecture & Design
This entry for the Architecture Foundation’s annual Antepavilion competition proposes the creation of a series of geodesic structures, formed from disused bicycle frames, clad in a textile woven from disposable plastic bags. The pavilion is to be built on the hull of the Ouse, one of two boats built for Canal Transport Ltd. in 1934 and formerly used to transport coal before being repurposed as a rubbish barge on the Regent’s Canal. The new pavilion is intended to highlight and reduce the proliferation of discarded bicycles which has been exacerbated by the increase in bike sharing schemes as well as find a more long-term purpose for single-use plastic bags to prevent them from entering the waterways.
Located within the boat, sheltered by the dome structures, is a bicycle powered loom which encourages and invites the public to participate in the creation of further woven fabrics made from their own plastic bag stockpiles. On-board craft workshops will manufacture this fabric into durable shopping bags to help further reduce single-use plastic bag numbers. An interior of steam-bent reclaimed timber forms seating areas to observe the weaving process and create an amphitheatre space for a programme of talks and workshops and evening events.