BVLGARI Pavilion

The BVLGARI Pavilion is a temporary installationcommissioned by the prestigious luxury jewellery brand for Abu Dhabi Art2012. The client’s brief was for thecreation of space that was “audacious, unexpected, yet anchored in BVLGARI’sheritage”. The project was required to be both representative of BVLGARI’sstyle and its creative ideologies, whilst being emblematic of a “modernmythology”. The reapproriation of something mundane andtransforming it into something magnificent became the starting point for our designconcept. In this sense a certain brutal honesty was desired in the finaloutcome so that the form was a self supporting entity in itself without theneed for a separate internal structure; therefore the form was not merely adecorative veil. To achieve this however required careful consideration andanalysis of both material and construction technique. After a period of extensive prototyping andexperimenting a design based upon the packing of acrylic tubes was devised. Acrylic tubes are an “off-the-shelf” product that comes in set lengths anddiameters. Although they have a diverse range of uses they are rarely used asprincipal architectural elements. By packing them close together not only dothey begin to form mass but also provide structural rigidity. Much like therough gemstone the concept was to slice and cut, smooth and polish the form toresult in new spaces and environmental conditions, to reinvent the material assomething extraordinary and unique. Whilst attempting to create a wholly new spatialexperience the team was also keen for it to simultaneously be somethingcompletely familiar, evocative of BVLGARI’s heritage. In this way it wasdecided to form arches, arcades and cupolas through the excavation andsculpting. As well as being exposed and translucent this method provided arecognizable enclosure and intimacy all be it an ethereal sensation of it. In total the design consists of 2272 tubes withapproximately 10,000 individual connections between them with a final weight ofnearly 6 tones. During the day the pavilion plays and manipulates the changingconditions of the sunlight however at night the aim was to provide analternative experience in which the light flowed through the structure likewater constantly hiding and revealing different parts of the pavilion. Project name:BVLGARI Pavilion Company name:Not a NumberArchitects Website: Contact e-mail:studio@nan-a. eu Project location:Saadiyat al Manarat,Abu Dhabi, UAE Completion Year: 2012 Building area (m²):300m2 Other participants:Madhav Kidao,Structure Workshop, UVA Photo credits:NaNA