The winning design for the Art Fund Pavilion by Tina Manis Associates (above)
An architectural firm founded and run by a group of women in New York has been announced as the winning entry of the Art Fund Pavilion 2009 scheme, Woking Lightbox's competition to create a new space at the award-winning centre.
Tina Manis Associates' reflective, arrowed glass blueprint beat off more than 600 entries from 52 countries, having been named on a shortlist of four last month.
Art Fund Director David Barrie said the judging decision was "a tough one"
"The shortlisted entries were all very strong and the decision was a tough one, but the Tina Manis Associates design stood out above the others for its elegance and versatility," announced Art Fund Director David Barrie, who hailed the "astonishing" quality of applicants for the "really imaginative" £50,000 commission, using half of the Lighbox's award jackpot.
"The pavilion will work both as a great exhibition space and dynamic venue for events and is sympathetic to its destined waterside location. I'm looking forward very much to seeing it on display later in the year here in the capital during the London Design Festival."
Lightbox Director Marilyn Scott said the design did "everything we wanted"
Architecture Foundation Director Sarah Ichioka and Turner Prize-nominated artist Richard Wilson were among the judges enamoured with the "sinuous form" Manis proposed, featuring windows with views over the nearby canal, ramps and cantilevered sections.
"I was most impressed by the way in which Tina Manis Associates developed their proposal for the pavilion in the context of this remarkable site, exploring the relationship to the canal, the street and the existing Lightbox building," observed Ichioka, crediting their "graceful and intelligent" approach.
The building was widely praised for being designed sympathetically to the surrounding environment. Picture courtesy Tina Manis Associates
"A clever, clean and witty conundrum of angles guide us around, through and eventually to the entrance way of the museum," added Wilson, citing the plan as "one more asset to this creative quarter of Woking."
"The intent of our pavilion design was to use the ramp typology as both a circulation strategy and means to demystify the open plan of the traditional white art box," explained Manis, who founded the company in 2000.
"It is inspired by the inherent beauty of structures and systemized processes found in nature based on the simple tools of creation - mirroring, reflection and symmetry."
Manis founded the company nine years ago. Picture courtesy Tina Manis Associates
The development, described as "a sort of three-dimensional postcard or viewport" and "a means for transporting the experience of viewing artwork across the city" will be Manis' first European project, constructed with cutting-edge technology by Facit in partnership with organisers Tent London.
"What so impressed me with the design was the absolute compliance to the brief we set, while still delivering a very forward-thinking design which pushed our chosen construction technique to its limit," reflected Tent Director Jimmy Macdonald. "This surely is the essence of real architectural prowess."
The structure will be Manis' first European project. Picture courtesy Tina Manis Associates
"It is an honour to be a selected from among the talented international group of shortlisted projects and entrants," continued Manis, thanking the organisers for their victory.
"As demonstrated through this competition, the orchestration and collaboration of diverse partners within the creative community has a profound ability to provide the architecture and design world with a new paradigm for public engagement.
"We are inspired by the overall vision to invite smaller practices from around the globe to participate in a competition whose end experience is realised at a local scale."
Dozens of international architects competed in the contest. Picture courtesy Tina Manis Associates
Bruce Bell, Research and Development Director at Facit, praised the structure for its effective alignment with the Lightbox's unusual location, sandwiched between a river and a motorway.
"We felt it was architecturally very well considered, making the most of the space in front of The Lightbox and the views over the water," he said, calling the design "inherently buildable" in between technical outpourings referring to an "angled centre line" and "a complex series of spaces through a structure that is for the most part orthogonal."
The versatile space will be built with half of the Lightbox's winnings from the 2008 Art Fund Prize. Picture courtesy Tina Manis Associates
"The winning design does everything that we wanted," summarised the more concisely gushing Marilyn Scott, Director of The Lightbox. "It is striking and also completely fulfils the brief – we are eagerly looking forward to the launch in September."
A selection of the application boards submitted to the competition, including the Greek, French and UK finalists who narrowly missed out, are now on display at The Lightbox until April 12 2009.
