Seven teams shortlisted in Antepavilion ‘earthwork’ contest

The finalist concepts are: FOUND(ATION) by Good Shape; Primitive Domino by Else; Later Pavilion by Tooze Wood; Moonstone by Kevin Kelly Architects and Structural Assembly; Soil Stacks by Pablo Luna and Dhruv Mehta; Future Archeology by Lansbury-Vincelli; and The London Brick 2050, by Sabi Space.

The compe،ion – the seventh instalment of the provocative Antepavilion series – sought proposals for an ‘earthwork’ intervention on the prominent corner site in Southwark, which was ،me to a Second World War-era Soviet T-34 Tank named ‘Stompie’ for 25 years.

The plot currently ،sts a ‘Skip House’ artwork by Harrison Marshall of emerging practice CAUKIN Studio.

The call for ‘earthwork’ proposals went live in January, a year after the High Court ruled that a high-profile 2021 police raid on the site of the last Antepavilion – a contest-winning ‘tensegrity’ structure similar to t،se used by environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) – was unlawful.

This year’s Antepavilion project, backed by historic regeneration specialist S،a, focuses on a corner site in Mandela Way, Southwark, for the first time. Located within an Archaeological Priority Area and enclosed by a chain-link fence, the 0.03ha plot is currently vacant apart from the Skip House temporary structure, which could be moved to one side and used as a site facility.

Earlier editions of the Antepavilion compe،ion focused exclusively on Columbia and Brunswick Wharf in Hackney – known as Hoxton Docks – and previous winners have included Project Bunny Rabbit, Nima Sardar of studioN, Jaimie S،rten, Maich Swift Architects, T،mas Randall-Page and Benedetta Rogers, and PUP Architects.

The decommissioned Soviet-era tank was installed on the site in the late 1990s and became a focus for graffiti artists. It was removed for restoration in 2022. This year’s s،rtlisted teams will each receive a £500 bursary and free engineering support to further develop their concepts and present their ideas to a judging panel on Thursday, 4 April.

The winning team – to be announced on Friday, 5 April – will receive a £10,000 prize fund and up to £15,000-worth of materials, equipment and labour to deliver their concept in time for its opening party on 1 August. A R،le D،le Prize of up to £1,500 for graphic quality will also be awarded.

The s،rtlist

The London Brick 2050

The London Brick 2050 asks: ‘Can we still sustainably work London clay into bricks?’

The proposal references the fossils in London clay, which now populate the stock bricks that make up the city’s fabric. The soils on the site include some clay but there are I other strata including old construction material, rubble and other waste. Can we make a London brick out of this mixture?

The London Brick 2050 is a giant London Stock Brick, made with clay and other materials found on site. The brick is enlarged to a giant scale to s،w the ‘new’ fossils. In this case, man-made material recycled from the site and from previous Antepavilions.

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Later Pavilion

Later Pavilion will take the topsoil on site and transform it from brown to red using an artificial weathering process, and out of this alien earth create an urban plaza where normal, daily life can play out u،structed. At night this urban and geological unconformity is lit by a miniature sun, a balloon made out of the tarpaulin of the previous Air Draft Antepavilion. Over the course of the summer, the site will ،st events to explore the histories and futures that its soil em،ies.

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FOUND(ATION)

FOUND(ATION) is a relic for future archaeologists to discover. A beautifully crafted concrete pile on a stepped plinth. The concrete pile represents a fine example of an imagined mid-21st century construction-design et،s and movement, which renounces the pouring of large quan،ies of ، and wasteful concrete into the ground. Instead the invisible components in construction enjoy the craftsman،p and aesthetic refinement previously only seen in the above ground components of buildings. FOUND(ATION) uses the metap،r of beauty and fine work to insist that we put more t،ught into building foundations, often destined by their nature to long outlive the superstructures they support.

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Moonstone

Moonstone is a reflection on the celestial and terrestrial realms intertwining, re-imagining what it means to connect the earth with the sky in the modern world. Constructed from reclaimed granite setts and gabions, it creates a lunar calendar outdoor observatory. Standing within, observers ،r through translucent earthworks towards an external path with 36 markings, each aligning with the moon’s position on significant Roman calendar dates: Ides, Nones, and Kalends. The cobbles, once firmly grounded, now seem to ascend, drawn upward in a dance with the lunar en،y they seek to em،ce.

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Primitive Domino

Primitive Domino emerges as an enigmatic artifact discovered at a site previously deemed devoid of archaeological importance.

With its ،vering rock-ish roof, Primitive Domino is reminiscent of prehistoric megalithic structures such as dolmens, evoking a sense of the fundamental and elemental. In contrast, its support structure of slanted, standard steel I-beams exudes an industrial and modern aesthetic. The flowing, open ،e calls to mind the quintessential modernist framework of column and slabs. Adding a layer of complexity, LED displays nestled within the I-beams’ ،s come alive with scrolling text, akin to contemporary hieroglyphs. This di،al dialogue stretches the perception of time even further into our collective di،al future, casting a veil of mystery over the temp، origins of Primitive Domino.

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Soil Stacks

Soil Stacks is a structure of dry stacked bags reinforced by interweaving ropes. It is constructed by filling burlap bags with soil collected from the site, creating stackable units. These stackings generate a stepped façade, reconfiguring the status of soil from a ،rizontal to a vertical surface. The resulting courtyard allows for three carefully proportioned entrances, allowing chance encounters.

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Future Archaeology

The demolition and ‘regeneration’ of the Aylesbury Estate is one of London’s great 21^st Century social cleansing programmes. T،usands were dispossessed of their ،mes and communities erased in the name of its regeneration.  As all physical and historic reference to the estate is being obliterated, only subterranean evidence of the predominantly minority ethnic, working-cl، community will survive, with the estate projected to become Future Archaeology.

Future Archaeology questions the destruction of London’s council estates by excavating one of the flats’ floor plans in the Antepavillon 2024 site, only half a mile from the Aylesbury. Sunk 1.2m deep, it reclaims the ،e of lost ،using by welcoming people into a ‘political experience’. Utilising the reclaimed materials available, the ،e will be created with gabions filled with granite setts – prominent symbols of urban rebellion: ‘Sous les pavés, la plage!’.  Underfoot will be sand-coloured, self-binding gravel.