Located on an elevated stepped plaza for a new civic park, the pavilion sits adjacent to an existing public library to create both an entry threshold and a park backdrop. Programmatically, the flexible-use pavilion serves multiple functions, including:

1) providing an iconic park feature that draws on the City’s history, 2) extending public space for the existing public library through a shaded outdoor community room, and 3) providing power/data infrastructure for outdoor performances associated with park programming. Formally, the pavilion celebrates the founding origins of the City of Royal Oak, which began with the discovery of ‘a stately oak tree with a trunk considerably wider than most other oaks’, and later conflated with the English legend of King Charles II taking sanctuary from enemy forces in 1660 under a ‘royal oak tree’.

Drawing on the defining characteristics of an oak leaf - specifically its deeply lobed margins and undulating surfaces - the pavilion is an abstract form that evokes these qualities. Utilizing powder-coated steel for durability and ease of maintenance (in sheet and pipe stock), the project explores the design potential of balancing simplicity with complexity through fabrication, detailing, and installation.

Working with a modest budget, the pavilion is comprised of pre-assembled modular units of rolled steel sheet ribbons and bent steel pipe frames that are combined to conform to the spatial constraints of the elevated plaza. To minimize the number of column bases, the steel pipe frames are aggregated to optimize cantilevered overhangs. Resonating at a range of scales through the complexity of form and careful articulation of details - from the scale of the park landscape to the scale of the visitor – the pavilion enhances a sense of discovery and delight.