Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Hull pavilion, Hull, UK, 2017. (Aerial perspective, watercolour on paper, 22 x 22 cm, 2017). Image Courtesy of RIBA
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Hull UK City of Culture 2017 have jointly commissioned Chile-based architects Pezo von Ellrichshausen and Swiss artist Felice Varini to design an ambitious temporary outdoor structure in the historic heart of Hull, a port city on the country’s east coast. The project, which is part of the Hull 2017 “Look Up” programme of public art installations, will “transform Trinity Square with sixteen galvanized steel columns arranged in a grid formation in front of Hull Minister to highlight the symmetry of its façade.”
Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Hull pavilion, Hull, UK, 2017 (General axonometry, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cm, 2017). Image Courtesy of RIBA
According to the RIBA, “visitors to the installation will be able to inhabit each of the six-metre-high columns and experience varying light conditions created by perforations in the steel skin.” In addition, “the rigid geometry of the columns will be carefully distorted and redefined by the artwork of Varini, challenging perceptions of perspective and scale.” For Marie Bak Mortensen, RIBA Head of Exhibitions, “visual and physical contradictions merge as visitors to Trinity Square will be met by imposing, static steel columns that are open to the sky and whose perforations create as feeling of lightness.”
Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Hull pavilion, Hull, UK, 2017 (Detail perspective, oil on canvas, 60 x 60 cm, 2017). Image Courtesy of RIBA
Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Hull pavilion, Hull, UK, 2017 (1:25 scale model, printed paper, 100 x 100 x 24 cm, 2017). Image Courtesy of RIBA