Konstantin Grcic, Audi Pavilion. Photo © Seth Browarnik/WorldRedEye.com
When Audi commissioned Konstantin Grcic to design a stand for them at Design Miami/ Basel 2014, the designer’s proposal was informed by his experience of visiting the fair in previous years. “Audi are sponsors of the fair, and they always have a stand, and they always bring a car that needs a scenography – that’s what this project was,” he explains. “In a way I did what they asked, but rather than designing an elaborate trade fair stand, which I felt was something that was not really my domain, I thought we needed to create a different story and to put the money into making an object.”
Konstantin Grcic, Audi Pavilion and the Audi TT. Photo © James Harris
Grcic’s pavilion, which uses tailgate doors and other components that reference the Audi TT, is a gesture of kinship toward the larger fair, a context in which he feels that the car company is at risk of feeling uncomfortable. “For some years now, Patrick Seguin has brought houses by Jean Prouvé to the fair – and this year Galerie Jousse have also brought a house – they’re fascinating exhibits, so I thought, why not do something like that?” Grcic sees a direct alliance to Prouvé’s interest in using industrial manufacturing technology in architecture to the situation that he was in. “With Audi, I had a manufacturer of technologically advanced products the components of which were readymade on a scale for a house.”
Grcic describes the car as a form of architecture – a sheltering form in which all manner of human activity takes place – “the transfer is not so far fetched.” Using the idea of the car as a means of escape, he has conceived his Pavilion as a rustic bolthole. “My idea of using car technology in making a house does not mean that we should build houses like cars,” he explains. “It was important to find a balance of technology and traditional architecture. I wanted to avoid the cliché of UFO-like 1970s design. While the polygonal shape has that aspect, the use of wood in the structure gives it an element of something familiar, simple, even primitive. If the whole thing had been made of car parts, it would have been a beautiful object, but probably rather cold – it would have been too much techno fetishism.”
Konstantin Grcic, Audi Pavilion. Photo © James Harris
As a product designer, Grcic is not used to working on this scale, but he is attracted to the practice of using prefabricated components in architecture, which links directly to his practice in industrial design. While only ever intended as a commission for the Basel fair, he sees plenty of scope for the pavilion to evolve further – “adding an the interior could give it more function and make it feel more like a destination. What is it for? At the moment we’ve left it very abstract. I think that’s fine for now, but you can see the potential of where it could go and how it could be developed further.”
The Audi breakfast at Design Miami/ Basel 2014. Photo © Seth Browarnik/WorldRedEye.com
By Hettie Judah
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