Stillwater Pavilion

The brief asked for three hundred square metres of flexible gallery in a sculpture park. The site already had the best thing on it: a shallow, still, spring-fed pool.

Borrowing the ceiling

The pavilion is single-storey and sits with one long elevation directly on the water. North light enters through a continuous clerestory; south light arrives reflected off the pool, which means the gallery receives soft, upward, constantly moving light without a single direct beam touching a work on the wall.

On still days the ceiling carries the water. On windy days it does not. The building is different every time you visit, and none of that required a mechanism.

Mass and patina

Walls are lime-washed masonry, thick enough to hold overnight temperature so the plant can stay small. The roof is patinated zinc that was already grey on day one — there is no awkward decade of it looking new.

A room that can be emptied

Every service — power, data, track lighting — runs in a single floor-level channel around the perimeter. The gallery itself has no fixed elements at all. It can be completely emptied in an afternoon, which is what a small institution actually needs.