Celebrating outdoor play and learning. Rainbow Pavilion by O'DonnellBrown + Kate V Robertson

Description of project by O'DonnellBrown

To mark Outdoor Classroom Day, a global movement to inspire and celebrate outdoor play and learning, North Lanarkshire Council has unveiled an exciting new addition to its facilities at Strathclyde Country Park: a large multi-use structure and artwork to accommodate and promote outdoor learning and events. It is the result of a creative collaboration between Glasgow-based artist Kate V Robertson and award-winning architects O’DonnellBrown, and the primary schoolchildren of New Monkland Primary School.

Strathclyde Country Park boasts Scotland’s only 2,000 metre multi-lane international rowing course, where the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 European Rowing Championships were hosted. The new pavilion is an attractive outdoor space within the park, offering protection from the elements while immersing its occupants in nature and commanding views of sporting activities.

This is the first of a series of new collaborations to encourage innovative partnerships between artists, architects, and the community. It forms part of a wider arts strategy and ambition for the park.

The architect-artist team was tasked to create an inspiring, bespoke outdoor structure for year-round learning experiences for education groups, with the flexibility to be used for performances, workshops and private hires. The resulting pavilion, which fronts Strathclyde Loch, is robust, low-maintenance and built using environmentally sustainable materials and construction methods.
 

“We are really proud to have worked with Kate to deliver the first outdoor shelter in Strathclyde Park for North Lanarkshire Council. Furthering our ideas for what a healthy and inspiring learning space can be, the shelter will be an adaptable resource to help schools deliver progressive outdoor learning experiences, and with these experiences, give people the emotional and mental wellbeing benefits that can come from being outside in the fresh air.”

Jennifer O’Donnell, Director, O’DonnellBrown.

“The process of integrating the artwork and the architecture was seamless, we began the process together from scratch and collaborated in tandem throughout, so it is hard to see where one ends and the other begins. As a result, the shelter has a unity of form, structure, and materials – and their effects. I hope the children and groups who use it will find it both useful and pleasing.”

Kate V Robertson, artist.

The supporting structure is an evolution of O’DonnellBrown’s prototype Community Classroom, an adaptable, demountable learning environment which was developed as a selfinitiated project and is now being manufactured by Spaceoasis as CC20. Following circular economy principles and built from a simple kit of parts to minimise construction waste, waste materials have been used to reduce the structure’s carbon footprint. The pavilion is made of timber sections bolted together in repeated two column modules to support the timber structural deck above, which is contained within a bespoke timber and mesh screen, creating the sculptural envelope.

A series of ‘rain screens’ conceived by the artist using layers of metal mesh creates shadows across the interior floor which mimic the reflection and refraction of the water on the adjacent Strathclyde Loch.

Held together with timber battens arranged in a repetitive pattern, the rain screens draw on works in Robertson’s solo exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts in 2017, and more recently in her installation at Barclays’ new Glasgow campus. Exploring the themes of obsolescence, waste, technology and the environment, the rain screens are made of recycled film from the inside of broken and discarded mobile phones, tablets and laptop screens. The large patchwork pattern reflects and distorts the sunlight, creating rainbow prisms that bounce around the interior, brought to life by the movement of people using the space.

Local schools have helped to shape the project, with workshops run by the architects and artist engaging local primary 7s in discussions on environmental issues and problem solving in the design process. This was augmented by a public campaign launched by the artist to collect broken or unwanted mobile phones, tablets and laptops from the community, which would otherwise have gone to landfill.

The collected material was then used by Robertson to create the structural artwork which integrates seamlessly with the timber structure – any remaining materials were recycled via Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Scotland. Across the whole structure from floor to ceiling, different sized screens feature in both horizontal and vertical orientations, echoing the variety of screens we encounter in our everyday lives – from widescreen TVs to handheld tablets to advertising displays.

As with the Community Classroom, O’DonnellBrown has partnered with Barnardo’s Works, an employment programme for young people, to build the structure. Three local young people assisted the contractor, Bridgewater Building Solutions, gaining skills and improving job prospects through their involvement.