Pavilion made of concrete "lazy bricks" in forest in Quebec

LAZY BRICKS

OBJECTS/RESEARCH

2015

BUILT

RIVIERE ROUGE, CANADA

CONCRETE, PANTYHOSE

ODAMI

CATEGORY

YEAR

STATUS

LOCATION

MATERIALS

PHOTOS

"What do you wanna be, Brick?"

"I wanna be chillin'."

This pavilion — affectionately named Greta — was an exercise both in place-making, and in testing the potential of fabric-formwork in construction. As a primitive structure, the goal wasn’t to provide physical shelter from the elements; it was simply to create a place by structuring the environment in a specific location. To do this, the structure sought to create a moment where the qualities of the place were intensified, seeming to emerge from the very place on which it stands.

The method of building with fabric-formed “lazy bricks” made this possible. Instead of lending themselves to a pure, geometric form like a normal brick would, which would have struggled to relate to the messiness of the site, the lazy bricks happily slumped on, over, or around anything that got next to or underneath them. They couldn’t be bothered to resist.

The result is a form which couldn’t help but make intimate acquaintances with the site - resisting the control of the Designer, preferring instead to simply lay down at its nearest convenience, and therefore be genuinely a part of it.

Process image of all of the materials and tools gathered on site

The structure sought to create a moment where the qualities of the place were intensified, seeming to emerge from the very place on which it stands.

Rebar structure inserted in concrete footing in leaf-covered ground in forest
Early process image of rebar structure embedded in foundation hole in middle of forest
Team member on scaffolding in forest tying rebar structure together

Instead of lending themselves to a pure, geometric form like a normal brick would, which would have struggled to relate to the messiness of the site, the lazy bricks happily slumped on, over, or around anything that got next to or underneath them. They couldn’t be bothered to resist.

Odami team member assembling a lazy brick by stuffing a pantyhose stocking with wet concrete
Pavilion designed and built by Odami seen in a Quebec forest from a distance
Pavilion designed and built by Odami in a forest in Quebec, Canada

The result is a form which couldn’t help but make intimate acquaintances with the site - resisting the control of the Designer, preferring instead to simply lay down at its nearest convenience, and therefore be genuinely a part of it.

A detail image of one of the legs of the fabric-formed concrete pavilion where it meets the ground in the forest
Pavilion made of a series of fabric-formed concrete bricks wrapping around a tree in the forest
A detail of the texture of the fabric-formed concrete lazy bricks designed by Odami