Para Project Studio has installed a ”forked» house made of light wood on the canal in the center of the medieval city. 

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American architect John Lott from the Para Project studio designed the Bruges Diptych wooden pavilion, which became one of the urban interventions in the framework of the Triennial of Contemporary Art and Architecture in Bruges. The structure is mounted on pontoons on one of the channels and is made as a kind of «double» of an abandoned house of the XV century, to which it faces.

Photo: Iwan Baan

At first glance, the architecture of the building exactly repeats the main features of a traditional house with a gable roof, but on closer inspection it is clear that the pavilion structure is more complex. It was not by chance that Lott called the project Diptych: the architectural volume of the pavilion is «made up” of two typical houses with a gable roof converging at one point. Thanks to this, the end facade of the building facing the canal embankment turned out to be double, similar to symmetrical open doors. 

Photo: Iwan Baan

Photo: Iwan Baan

The impression is made not only by the duality of the structure, but also by the complex structure of the roof: its external slopes are made of plywood, and the internal ones consist of thin rafters, through the openwork intersections of which visitors can admire the sky. Sunlight floods the pavilion through panoramic windows decorated with thin wooden slats, and you can see the surrounding houses from one of the four balconies. 

Photo: Iwan Baan

Photo: Iwan Baan

The pavilion is completely made of natural wood, the lively drawing of which emphasizes laconism and strict geometry of forms. The building was built in accordance with the rules of UNESCO protection regulations: it is installed on 15 floating pontoons and does not make any structural changes to the medieval architecture of the city. Diptych is not just a spectacular installation, during the Triennial the pavilion served as a space for events. 

Photo: Iwan Baan