RISING FROM THE WATER
10 Jul 2024
Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari and design studio Material Cultures have created a pavilion made from wood and reed for London Festival of Architecture.
Named Rising from the Water, the circular pavilion is positioned in Barking, close to Barking Creek Flood Barrier, and explores building solutions for the area as its flood risk grows with rising sea levels.
Rising from the Water has a circular form, with a timber structure made of reclaimed scaffolding boards, and cladding formed of reed – a plant that grows in water and is locally available – thatched and weaved in bundles. 
While forming part of London Festival of Architecture (LFA), the pavilion's construction also coincides with the 70th anniversary of the 1953 Great Flood in Barking.
It aims to draw attention to how the area could be made flood-resilient and designed "with a better understanding of the land" using local and low-carbon materials, including those found at the water's edge in Barking, such as reed. 
Material Cultures was commissioned for the project by arts organisation Create London and constructed it with students both with and without knowledge and experience in architecture. "The commission was envisioned as a counter proposition to the Barking Creek Flood Barrier, the 38-metre-high and 40-metre-wide, concrete monolith structure that was engineered to prevent future flooding following the Great Flood of 1953," said Create London director Marie Bak Mortensen. 
"The structure explores solutions for how we can build with a better understanding of the land and its needs – in response to the climate and environmental crisis we are in," continued Material Cultures director George Massoud. 
Photographs courtesy of Thierry Bal and Jimmy Lee, via Dezeen.
