Stack&Build

Stack and Build is a temporary summer pavilion created for the gardens of the Serralves Museum, designed by combining multiple crates of beer. Taking advantage of the formal qualities of the original plastic grate, Stack and Build builds two laced curved walls with assembled lay down beer crates that create a new route within the existing space. Disposed in this unusual position, the beer crates are not identifiable as a single recognizable object and produce a dense tracery texture that works as a multi-layers visual filter. The red colour, characteristic of the beer brand and thus of the plastic crates that design the pavilion, points out the presence of this iconic element in the green gardens, taking advantage of the complementarity of the two colours. The curved shape of the pavilion wonders the visitors by its unexpected geometry and, at the same time, facilitates the structural stability of the walls. For erecting the pavilion a bespoke LEGO-type constructive system was developed, through the design of two types – vertical parallel and horizontal curved - of metal junctions. These new elements, that add a high-tech approach to a low-cost aesthetic, enable the assembly and disassembly of the pavilion without damaging the existing crates. Consisting on the design of a building system that is non-intrusive and easily re-usable, Stack n’ Build is not only this specific pavilion but also a potential family of similar pavilions in other contexts and with new configurations.