INFO How to get to PAO

As there were difficulties with downloading the maps from our homepage: here are some infos on how to get to PAO. This is the address: PAO architecture summer camp, Gothaer Strasse 20, 99869 Schwabhausen - Germany. For arrivals by TRAIN: Reach Gotha Main Station by trains from Frankfurt (direction Leipzig, Berlin), from Berlin (direction Frankfurt), from Dresden (direction Frankfurt). Call PAO tel +49 171-8810520 for Pick-up service. Arrival by AIRPLANE: Reach Erfurt Airport from Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich (...) Continue by train from Erfurt Main Station to Gotha Main Station (local trains or interstate trains to Frankfurt every 20min). Call PAO tel +49 171-8810520 for pick-up service. Arrival by CAR: Autobahn A4 Frankfurt-Dresden. Exit Gotha/Suhl/Oberhof. Follow direction Suhl/Oberhof to the first village - Schwabhausen. PAO is located on mainstreet "Gothaer Strasse Nr. 20".

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Frame++ on the Slope

As we have to deliver soon some data for our carpenters to start their work (aquiring, measuring & cutting wood), here is a further version of the "Frame on the slope". This time, our platform gets a larger "head" - an extended exhibition space at the front. The open timber frames are to be equipped with facades, boxes, roofs, stairs ... in the further process of design and building. - As with the previous idea, the general access is from the street which runs at the top of the slope. This seems to be a necessary condition for the safe and easy use of the structure.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Frame on the Slope

Here is a siteplan with main buildings marked (Church and Former Kindergarden). The area we are going to work is the site around the former kindergarden, an area with large chestnet trees, sloping down from the access road some 2, 3 metres. The former kindergarden building is right now under reconstruction, to be transformed into an elderly people´s house. According to village officials, on the same site a childrens playground is planned to be build. Its place will be in the ravine at the lower part of the site. This, however, restricts the available spaces for the Micro Museum. Whatsmore, village officials demand accessibility without entering the area itself, which will be semi-private. For easy access, then, only the small stretch along the road at the upper part of the site seems appropriate. The red marker shows the place on the top of the slope.

Below: a constructional scheme for a timber-frame on this specific site. Stepping down the slope, so to say, it follows more or less the idea of a "Tube on the slope" (Beam, Paoworm, Junglegym). So far, it is only a skeleton that is to be furbished with boxes, shelves, exhibition items during the workshop - those features that "Xscape", "Calzone" & Co. have demonstrated so nicely.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Tube on the Slope

Here is a strong alternative concept to the previous "Floating Idea Hive". Instead of a boxy shelf lifted up (containing some 10, 15 exhibition chambers), this idea favours a long-stretched volume (a tube, a pipe, a tunnel) that extends from the existing slope like a dive-board. As a conceptual framework, it includes the ideas like "Beam", "Paoworm, the "Whale & Centiped Variations", and "On Top & Underneath Platform". Its biggest advantage: this concept enables direct access from the street which runs along the upper edge of the site. From here, people may easily enter (without intruding the semi-private grounds physically), have a look at the exhibition and the landscape, then turn around - and be easily back where they came from. - The idea of having an accessible, "beam-like" object protruding from the hill may be developed into extreme shapes (round tubes, triangular volumes. Also possible: the carry out the "Beam" as a skeleton-structure, an open framework to be filled up with single boxes. Or to be clad with exterior walls and wrappings.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Floating Idea Hive

Here comes a constructional scheme / framework inspired by Eric, designed by Micha: A real "Micro Museum" that combines the ideas of "Beam", "Idea Hive", and "Platform". In fact it is a kind of shelf that floats some 1-1,5 m above ground, containing a multitude of tiny exhibition cells, or chambers. Just like a bee-hive. At the same time it reminds Alise´s "Two birds with one stone" (a shelf with openings), but now it is floating horízontally instead of standing up vertically. The technical construction seems simple: Providing openings from below the shelf in which one can put his/her head - and look around some 10, 15 exhibition boxes clustered together and lifted up.

IDEA SELECTION Five Core Ideas

We have grouped the design entries - and found that all ideas can be roughly grouped into 5 general types, each representing one strong idea. These ideas we shall keep in mind during the the further design development.

GROUP 1 "CONTAINERS: MAKING USE OF STURDY BOXES"

Includes Projects Nr. (1) "4 Containers", (2) "Matchbox Musem", (5) "Check-Mate-Museum", and (8) "Paorcelona Pavillon", and "Carpatian Window" (not numbered). These projects are commonly thinking about how to use existing containers meaningfully, be them the ones which were re-designed in 2007´s Pao.3 workshop, or new ones.

GROUP 2 "BEAMS & TUBES: WORKING WITH THE SLOPE"

Includes Projects Nr. (2) "Beam", (4) "Two Variations", (4) "Cigar", and (23) "Paoworm". - The common starting point for these projects is the simple idea of having some long-stretched exhibition space extending from the slope, thus connecting the exhibition directly with the street which runs along the site. This fulfills some major conditions of the site, e.g. direct accessibility, approach from a public space.

GROUP 3 "MORPHED PAVILLON: TEXTILE-CONCRETE EXPERIMENTS"

Includes Projects Nr. (6) "Blossom", (7) "Plastic-Concrete Cube", (18) "Butterfly", (19) "Mushroom", and (20) "Gingko". Inspired by the opportunities of using textile concrete, these projects investigate how far the design of free-shaped pavillons can be pushed. Demanding certainly in terms of material and construction technique - possible to produce only within a very limited scope at PAO, unfortunately.

GROUP 4 "MULTIPLE SPACES: EXHIBITION-SHELVES-OBJECTS"

Projects Nr. (9) "5th of 4 Cube", (10) "Two birds with one stone", (16) "Jungle Gym", (17) "Idea Hive", and (21) "Shelves in a Shelf". - These projects commonly start from the idea of providing many small spaces for many exhibition objects. Spaces like: chambers, cells, boxes, show-windows, etc. The strong idea here is to make the museum-shelter itelf into an exhibition object itself. Two concepts of the Top 5 idea selection were in this group: "Two birds with one stone" and "Shelves in a shelf".

GROUP 5 "PLATFORM: EXHIBITION LANDSCAPES"

Projects Nr. (12) "Xscape", (13) "On top and underneath", (14) "Xscape extended", (15) "Calzone", (22) "Erics Rocks" and "Seed from Tokyo" (not numbered). - These concepts commonly start from the idea of having not a building but rather an open platform as an "exhibition landscape" to walk on and experience. The two top running concepts "Xscape extended" and "Calzone" were in this group.

HOW TO PROCEED FURTHER? From now, we have to conceive a "framework" (both conceptually and physically) which is to include these core-ideas. Whereas the further development of this framework into a genuine "Museum" is the task of the workshop sessions, the construction of a real physical framework is necessary until the beginning of the workshop (foundation-making, wood-cutting and other construction tasks have to be carried out before the Pao begins). So - make an idea for an appropriate framework that fits to our "core-ideas" - and send it to the blog!

IDEA SELECTION The Winner is...

Now it is time to disclose the result of our idea rating! The winner is ... "Xscape extended", followed by "Calzone", "Two Birds with one Stone", "Idea Hive" and "Shelves in a Shelf". For the complete ranking, see the attached file. Thanks again to everybody who contributed an idea, thanks to everybody who took the time for voting!
Of course, this ranking does not necessarily imply, that the top-rated ideas are the best for the upcoming construction. There are a few more steps to be taken in order to get the "right scheme". How to proceed further?

(1) From now, the top ideas are to be checked against "reality conditions", such as: construction, costs, feasability, time needed, usability, place etc. Certainly, there will be some ideas that are not very realistic, not possible to be build within the scope of the PAO workshop, perhaps to expensive and laborious. This should reduce the number of ideas to be build in a first step.

(2) A second step is the "filtering" of similar or related ideas, and reduce them to one "Group feature". We have to find out the strong main ideas within the many diverse. For instance, some of the presented concepts are just variations or explications of another idea (see "Xscape", "Xscape Extended", "Calzone") - so they may represent one idea, or one group ("Platform Exhibition Landscape").

(3) Instead of looking for an idea-hit among the top-ranking candidates to smash all other concepts - we should rather try to identify the one design which is able to include and contain most of the other top-rated ideas. For instance, some of the ideas may be combined, containing each other (e.g. "Two birds with one stone" and "Bee Hive").

During the next 3, 4 days this cross-check will be carried out. The results will be posted here for free discussion. Dont hesitate to contribute any comment or hint re: the selection and the further advance of the project.

INFO The PAO polls are on!

Thanks a lot to everybody who has already sent back the rating sheet for our design poll! The contest is getting exciting - a bit like presidential election: Every few hours the situation changes, comes another project to the lead. Right now, the following concepts are the top-runners: "Beam", "Two birds with one stone", "Xscape (Extended)", and the "Idea Hive". However, the voting shall go on until the weekend. Then the result shall be fixed. Lucky choice!

IDEA Michael´s Carpatian Window

I would suggest to integrate the containers in the overall concept. The boxes are simply nice for playing with, easy to transport (as we know). You can erect them anywhere. They do not necessarily have to be integrated within a museum-order, isnt it? We may combine them with any other micro- or macro thing, whatsoever. One box has at least 3,5m² exhibition area, when being put upright. Thats a lot! You can put your complete living room in there, or even sleep inside. The box may stand upright, lay horizontally, have several layers. We can play with the interior perspective, divide the volume etc. A lot of combinations! Beyond their function as mere exhibition objects (in the village), they may obtain a second function as exhibition spaces (simple). The container´s interior does not have to be accessible. One can well look inside, through a shop-window, or similar inventions. The view goes inside. For that (ad hoc), we do not have to do big restoration works. A simple refurbishment with boards, tar-paper, and colour paint should save it sufficiently from wind and rain (People over here in Romania do it that way). I am talking for my own purpose: I would like to take the chance and prepare a space-installation. The theme comes from literature. I need a closed box for that and a small peep-hole inside. Of course, its a temporary installation... I would bring an old shop-window from the Carpatians, and everything else necessary. I am a container.

INFO Tentative PAO Schedule

Here comes a first tentative schedule for the upcoming PAO workshop. As always, there will certainly be changes up to the last minutes. Anyway, this is for the rough planning. Any comments and proposals are welcome for further refinement.

REFERENCE Rio-rio

Rio-rio is a current art project in Dresden (> http://www.rio-rio.de/), creating two huts as hats on top of an existing building. Is posted here as a deterrent example: Construction was planned for may, june ..now it is end of july and it seems certainly finished... Thus a construction composed of structure, exterior cladding, and interior cladding should be avoided.

IDEA Naoko´s Seed from Tokyo

Watching and reading PAO 3, a thick booklet, this tiny idea arose. Hope we could have lots of wood for PAO 5, too.