FIRST FLIGHT

JA’s conceptual design was selected as winner of the 2022 Seattle Design Festival Pavilion Competition, allowing us the opportunity to design and build a reusable pavilion which served to welcome visitors and host pop-up programming at Seattle Design Festival’s Block Party in South Lake Union.

First Flight pays homage to Seattle's connection to aviation - multiple airports, the Museum of Flight, and Boeing, one of the world’s most notable manufacturers - all call Seattle home. The Emerald City’s airspace is filled with innovation, and this Pavilion invites visitors to participate in the rich, dynamic history of taking flight in Seattle and beyond. Furthermore, its structure and purpose also align JA’s design for the Pavilion to the Seattle Design Festival’s 2022 theme of Connection.

The designers drew inspiration from the Tetrahedral Kite, studied by Alexander Graham Bell in 1903 as he worked to build a scalable kite that was large enough to carry a person and motor - a precursor to the airplane. A multi-celled rigid box composed of tetrahedrally-shaped cells, the kite forms a kind of nascent space-frame while expressing its tetrahedrally compound shape. An early experiment on the path to manned flight, the Tetrahedral Kite inspires the forms and patterns of this Pavilion.

Meeting the SDF Pavilion requirements of being lightweight, easily packable, and able to be assembled, disassembled, and reassembled, JA’s Pavilion structure is built of lightweight metal poles fastened together and connected to a wooden platform. LED lighting and slightly translucent ripstop “sails” amplify the triangular and tetrahedral forms reminiscent of Bell’s original kite. You can even check out the Assembly Manual!

The week-long festival kicked off with two full days of programming at the SDF Block Party, where the Pavilion was used as a welcome kiosk, performance stage, and pop-up activity space. Visitors were able to create their own miniature versions of Bell’s kite inside the Pavilion. Using compostable straws, modeling wire, tissue paper, and some instructions, people of all ages and abilities created their own little piece of aviation history.

LOCATION Seattle, WA
PROGRAM Seattle Design Festival, Pavilion Competition
COMPLETED August 2022
DIMENSIONS 30’ x 10’ x 20’
MEDIUM Fabric, Wood, Metal Poles
PHOTOGRAPHY Trevor Dykstra,
JA Team

Download the Assembly Instructions

First Flight

FIRST FLIGHT

JA acknowledges that we are on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People
past and present, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe.

JA is committed to social justice and equity in our workplace, our practices, and our investments.
We are a participant in the International Living Future Institute’s JUST program. Click here to learn more.

First Flight

FIRST FLIGHT

JA acknowledges that we are on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish Peoplepast and present, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe.

JA is committed to social justice and equity in our workplace, our practices, and our investments. We are a participant in the International Living Future Institute’s JUST program. Click here to learn more.

JA acknowledges that we are on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People
past and present, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe.

JA is committed to social justice and equity in our workplace, our practices, and our investments.
We are a participant in the International Living Future Institute’s JUST program. Click here to learn more.