Maritime Pavilion

Description

The Navigation Pavilion is situated on the bank of the river Guadalquivir in the southern sector of the Exposition precinct along the pier which delimits the port between the Chapina and Cartuja bridges. Containing just over 15,000 square meters, it sits on a platform at the level of the dock, offering its main facade to the river and may also be entered from the facade facing the Plaza of Discoveries five meters above.The Navigation Pavilion, which is to be the city's future Maritime Museum, presents itself as a great neutral and capacious volume which is nevertheless precise enough to transcend any suggestion of a container lacking in architectonic definition.The buildings situated directly behind the Pavilion increase in height from the Pavilion of Discoveries to the Tower of Triana. Its curving metal roof acts as the Pavilion's main facade, offering its convex surface to the historic city, evoking resonances of old waterfront sheds and warehouses and responding to the stepping down of the perspective toward the river, thus resolving the building's relationship with its context.Located on the same site is a service building containing a cafeteria and restaurant whose position permits the Pavilion to create its own space which is articulated as a great ramp which guarantees the independence of each structure and acts as a gateway to the river allowing a visual conection between the Plaza and the dock, the ships, the river, and the city.The pavilion unfolds longitudinaly in two parrallel volumes which form in the interior a narrow street whose height is four times its width: A great exhibition hall whose interior may be circled at its perimeter via ramps and balconies, and a smaller service volume (storage, workshops and services) which extends as an open portico forming the long unified facade of the pavilion facing the Plaza of Discoveries.Analogies with the world of navigation occurr not only in the building's forms but also in the use of a traditional material such as wood. Great curved wooden beams spanning 40 meters depict the structural section of the Pavilion.These beams are supported at two points. On the river facade they rest on sturdy columns which support a large plattform cantilevered on both sides, producing a long gallery on the interior and a great balcony on the exterior.This balcony facing the river is proposed as a great open air space above the water.Five metal skylights eleven meters high which perforate the copper roof rest on this balcony and allow daylight to penetrate the interior at several points.On the opposite side the wooden beams rest on a portico of double concrete columns 17 meters high and trapezoidal in section which are joined by transverse beams. These porticoes placed every 72 meters form the interior street referred to earlier, are connected to the concrete structure containing workshops and offices, and make up the great supports for the roof structure.The great single volume of the Exhibition Hall provides circulation at its perimeter in the form of ramps which border the central space. The side galleries assume distinct alignments, forming a doble level glass balcony in the northeast corner; a great bay window above the dock, the boats and the river.Lastly the project consists of the construction of a belvedere tower at the end of the pier which projects out into the river. A counterpoint to the long horizontal surface of the Pavilion.A tower for arrival and departure split into two parts of distinct formal composition: that on the pier is a lightweight metal structure forming a straight prism with a triangular base and an adjoining stairway.The other is made of white concrete in the shape of a keel with its foundation sunk in the river and contains a system of ramps and elevators.Its geographical position permits it to be seen as a new landmark on the shore signaling from the river the entry to the precinct. Its height of approximately 60 meters bestows it with a priveleged viewpoint over the grounds of the Universal Exposition and the city.(Description provided by the architects)