Rain Check

This design/build project was the outcome of a 16-week studio course at the University of Colorado Denver, where students were guided through a process of making that resulted in a built pavilion for the Earth.

This 6’x8’x10’ pavilion-type structure features: a series of gabion cages with locally sourced rocks that interacts softly with the ground by laying on it without carving any parts of it out, and which has since become an ecosystem for rats and garden snakes to play in; a “bottle garden,” which hosts a series of plants that serves as sustenance for pollinators, birds, and other species in need of flora; and a punctured corrugated roof system, which provides shade and some shelter to the human users of the project, and which makes a spectacle of the special times of the year when it snows or rains in Denver. These parts were tied together with a standard steel scaffolding system, reminding us of the advances of technology and our ongoing implication in the circulation of materials around the world.