New York. An ephemeral multi-arts centre as a prelude to the Shed

The Amsterdam-and-Nigeria-based architecture office NLE Works designed a temporary pavilion in close collaboration with artist Tino Seghal. The building anticipates The Shed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, opening in spring 2019 and inspired by Cedric Price unbuilt project for the Fun Palace. The Shed is a cultural and artistic centre directed by Alex Poots which aim is to support artistic creativity and encouraging the hybridisation of different forms of arts.

The ground-breaking institution commissioned architect Kunlé Adeyemi, principle of NLE Works, to design a structure to host “A Prelude to The Shed” event series. The structure stands on a black stage, as a plinth detaching the space from the street with just three steps. The building results as a sort of temple conceived for visual and performative arts, at the same time iconic and penetrable from the street. The corrugated metallic panels of the roofs are lifted by a pitched skeleton; this metallic frame acts as a hardware for the lower part of the building which is programmatically designed to accommodate the events of “A Prelude to The Shed”. This flexible arrangement is composed of 38 modular seats, made of plywood and black leather. These elements can be rolled away to expand on the black stage, or they can be arranged forming an enclosure.