Jello Pavillion

Ithaca

Is an inflatable structure in the spirit of Ant Farm: the avant-garde group of architects who revolutionised the use of plastics with the ambition of creating flexible, democratic and fun spaces for people in the 1970s. Students in Lorena del Rio’s “A Journey into Plastic” Seminar conceived the Jello Pavilion as a collaborative design build project to bring a wave of fun during the stressful final weeks of the semester. With a budget around 300$ the pavilion is comprised of over 100 plastic panels of various geometries secured together through a calibrated technique of heating. This thin plastic shell achieves its volumetric potential with a high-power fan that inflates air in through a tubular appendage in a constant way. A globular shape when fully inflated, the pavilion is easily manipulated into different formal configurations through the fastening of Velcro strips attached throughout the volume. Despite its complex system of assembly, the Jello Pavilion portrays a simple image of fun, and is filled with balloons and light projections at various times throughout the day. The Jello Pavilion is an opportunity for all to literally enter a bubble of fun in the midst of hectic campus life. It also carries on the tradition of plastics as a cheap, malleable and flexible material with incredible potential for designers.