FILTER

Created for Design Pavilion and theNYCxDesign Festival, FILTER carves out space for quiet recentering within thefrenetic energy of Times Square. Designed as both a monumental object and anephemeral experience. At thepavilion’s center, a lone tree embodies the ecological cycles and serves as acounterpoint to the Manhattan’s urbanity. Designed by CLB Architects, the pavilion’schapel-like design facilitates a new understanding of place, providing eachoccupant the chance to explore their own relationship with the natural world. The structure’s concept began as a simple diagram – a folded sheet of paper,carefully sliced, and able to stand on its own. Eric Logan, Partner at CLB,translated this exercise into full-scale existence through a design composed ofa series of standard-sized, half-inch hot-rolled steel plates, or “chaps,”arranged to form a 24-foot diameter, 20-foot-tall ellipsoid. FILTER, located between West 46th and 47thStreets at Times Square, appears to be a foreign object. Fluid shards ofnaturally-weathered steel invite close inspection, and a gentle ramp leadsaround the perimeter, offering views of the space held within. The noise,bustling crowds, and glaring lights of the city are filtered out, and thenewly-centered visitor is left in solitude, inhabiting the urban “pause. ” AsLogan explains, the structure presents “an offering, it [FILTER] changes theenvironment and creates its own. ” A bench of reclaimed fir offcuts is foldedinto the interior, encircling a live, 20-foot-tall tree. The tree’s densecanopy only partially obscures the sky beyond, inviting occupants to lookupward and lose themselves in contemplation. Each element of the structure was designedwith attention to its sustainability, portability, and longevity, beyond theduration of the NYCxDesign installation. Following the closure of the NYCxDesignfestival, the tree will be donated to the New York City non-profit The BatteryConservancy, and the pavilion will be carefully disassembled and transportedback to Wyoming to continue its life as a public sculpture at EMIT’sheadquarters and enjoyed for generations to come. When it completes its cycleand reaches its final resting point in Sheridan, FILTER’s patina will reflectthe accumulations of both dry western air and East Coast salinity. Forgingconnections across geography and intimately centered on occupant experience,FILTER makes a place of its own. FILTER Project Team / Sponsors CLB Architects (Architect) EMIT (Exhibit Patron, Steel Supplier andFabricator) Spearhead (Wood Supplier and WoodFabricator) Dowbuilt (Builder) KL&A, Inc. (Structural Engineer) HELIUS (Lighting Designer) B-K Lighting (Light Fixture Provider) Raemelton Farm (Tree Provider) Apollo Electric (Lighting Contractor) Photography Kevin Scott Andres Orozco Leonid Furmansky