FIGMENT has recently unveiled the winner of its 2017 City of Dreams Pavilion Design Competition. Cast & Place by Team Aesop reimagines waste as a transformative resource for New York City's future. Soil dredged from the East River, the material also used in the construction of Governors Island, is laid out to dry and crack. 250,000 aluminum cans are melted down and poured into the cracked dredge. The results are light, strong panels that provide structure and shade, assembled into spaces for performance and play. Rain-soaked reflecting pools of dredge reveal the pavilion's formwork as they dry and crack in the summer heat, inducing meditations on time, materiality, and the sources of the city.
Team Aesop (Josh Draper from PrePost/RPI-CASE, Lisa Ramsburg and Powell Draper from Schlaich Bergermann Partner, Edward M. Segal from Hofstra University, and Max Dowd from Cooper Union) will work with FIGMENT, ENYA, SEAoNY, and Governors Island to select the exact site for Cast & Place, refine the design, obtain necessary approvals, and fabricate and install the pavilion on the island. The project has launched a Kickstarter campaign to support the fabrication, installation, and maintenance of the pavilion on Governors Island for the 2017 summer season.
