2022 Eat Drink Design Awards: Best Installation Design

Jury comment

The elegance of The Summerhouse pavilion, combining versatility with equal-parts simplicity and sophistication, has resulted in a worthy winner. Like the venerable Spiegeltent before it, The Summerhouse can come and go with the festival it celebrates, creating a memorable setting for Adelaide Festival’s performances. In practical terms, the planning and resolution of services and movement of patrons and staff combine to keep back-of-house tucked neatly away and all action on the performances. There is a well-organized space for a sickle-shaped bar and an expansive central performance arena formed by the overlap of smaller and larger circles in plan: an elegant solution.

Beyond the clever response to planning challenges, the pavilion is visually striking. It creates an identity and beacon for the festival in a way that is highly original. A sense of drama and ephemerality combine with projection and lighting to render the pavilion a canvas that can be packed away and brought out again with a new lease of life for each festival season.

Design statement

Drawing design cues from the nearby Elder Park Rotunda, a distinct circular form has been adopted to house the beating heart of Adelaide Festival. It is to provide a space for new and exciting acts both national and international, becoming a meeting ground for audiences of all generations and backgrounds to watch and listen, to perform, to eat and drink, and to share memories over the festival period. As dusk settles in, the pavilion comes alive. A combination of surface and projected lighting will enable the mood and theme to be changed throughout the festival and from year to year. The tessellated facade becomes a canvas for dynamic and ephemeral superimposition. The brief called for a generous, accessible public space to accommodate functions and pre- and post-performance drinks. The elevated terrace provides a platform for people to gather and enjoy views over the river and park. Back-of-house services are neatly hidden behind the temporary building envelope and under the raised terrace platform.

Adelaide Festival Pavilion – The Summerhouse is built on Kaurna Country.

Project credits

Designer CO-AP Project team Will Fung, Tina Engelen, Anastasia Nikopoulou, Phillip Chum

See the whole gallery of images at the Eat Drink Design Awards website.

The 2022 Eat Drink Design Awards are organized by Architecture Media and supported by principal partner James Richardson Furniture, major partner Blind Corner, supporting partners Roca, No Rock and Latitude, and event partner Stomping Ground.

The Eat Drink Design Awards are endorsed by the Australian Institute of Architects and the Design Institute of Australia.