Burble Bup is a secret hideout that lures people into its soft and magical interior through the use of a colorfully inflatable roof. We envision strangers lounging and mingling within the earthen walls, laying down and feeling comfortable underneath constantly shifting colored light. Here they are enticed to stay, mingling amongst new friends and upon grassy soil tubes. The pavilion isn’t a space of circulation but of rest and intercommunication.
Unlike most pavilions the massive weight of soil is used to produce a private interior with whorls of smaller spaces knotted around its periphery. These soil mounds, constructed of soil filled fabric tubes are seeded with grass providing sitting and climbing surfaces for people. The exterior gradually mounds up in a series of grassy benches rising to form a visual and acoustical boundary for the pavilions interior where public performances as well as private small talk can be enjoyed.
Burble Bup is a pavilion of two parts. The first part, a dome, is made from individual custom designed components (Bups) with a unique morphology that allows them to be connected together in a variety of ways. Their articulated, bloated and textured limbs provide a sticky connection point to join with a neighboring Bup. The other portion of the pavilion is a landscape zone that mounds to provide privacy and structural support to the dome.