Ice Box Pavilion

View of the ramp that connects the pavilion to its surround.

Project Details

• Project Name: Ice Box Pavilion
• Project Type: Architectural design
• Principal Designer: Roberto Navarrini
• Design Team: Elena Lavezzo, Franco Navarrini, Enrico Bonvento
• Contractor: Rasom Holz & Co
• Year of commencement of project: 2005
• Year of completion of project: 2006
• Location of site: Veneto, Italy
• Site Area: 120 square metres
• Built-up Area: 65 square metres
• Cost of Construction/Execution: 150,000.00 €

Computer rendered image of the pavilion.

The Project

Located along the Canalbianco river, the Ice Box pavilion -- an ice cream laboratory -- emerges as an architectural hinge in an anonymous area. The client required a visually vivacious vocabulary besides a speedy construction of the pavilion. The bright orange colour of its facade served this purpose, attracting the attention of the hurried traffic that crosses it.

View of the bright orange face of the pavilion that helps it announce itself to passer-bys.

The pavilion is founded on a net of 5×3 metre meshes, placed on concrete pads. Its front is made up of a wooden structured slab which then rises to translate into the wall, developing into the building's impermeable and insulated cover. This skin is realized with wooden panels which are thermally insulated and coated with a layer of plaster, characteristic of the vernacular style of the region.

Exterior view of the glazed sale section of the pavilion.

The closed production area contrasts with the glazed sale section which opens up to the surrounding landscape preserved on the rear rend of the pavilion. A ramp connects the different elements of the pavilion together.

Credits

• Text: Courtesy of the architect
• Photographs by Franco Navarrini, Courtesy of the architect
• Compiled and edited by Varun Ajani