Olympic Pavilion Denmark
Olympic design for disassembly
What if a chair was made from waste plastic (both industrial and ocean waste), and the chair could be both a dining and lounge chair, and stacked becomes a shelve and a facade system.
Imagine 2.500 chairs put together, creating a pavilion for 9 weeks at the Olympics, and then become disassembled and reused as chairs before again becoming an exhibition pavilion at the world’s largest design fair in Milan.
Location
Paris, Milan, Denmark
Area
Varies
Typology
Pavilion
Collaborators
Realdania
Visit Denmark
BRIQ
Structured Environment
Artelia
Dansk Arkitektur Center
Year
2021 – 2024
Status
Completed
Client
Visit Denmark
Services
Architectural consulting
‘It is more than a building, it is an ecosystem and a very powerful showcase of Danish design today. It shows that this iconic piece of Danish design – a chair – can be so much more. It addresses a fundamental problem with major events – waste – and rethinks how a pavilion is used and financed while still maintaining a high aesthetic quality. It is almost Olympic in its iconic and monumental design.’
The jury
Danish Design Award 2021
The chairs are built from pure recycled materials, the seats are made from plastic waste from the ocean, while the chair back is made from industrial waste in the form of used beer kegs from Carlsberg’s breweries. In addition, the chair structure itself is made from recycled wood. It is a more sustainable approach than usual because its production helps to create a direct CO2 reduction as well as by turning wa¬ste into a valuable product worth preserving.
The chair acts as a 60 x 60 x 70 cm green building block that is designed for disassemble and can be used repeatedly. It can be joined together with clamps that hold the chairs securely to each other and can be as¬sembled in many different constellations to form walls, ceilings, and seating for visitors.
