a porous pavilion in chattanooga
Wheland Foundry Trail Signage in Chattanooga, Tennesseethe Moonrise rises from the parkway like a pale shell caught among the trees. Designed by Marc Fornes / A LOTthe permanent stand forms a porous blurred of white aluminumits surface is opened by circular cuts that bring sky, foliage and passing clouds into the structure itself.
From the outside, it reads as a light object in the landscape. Below, it becomes a shadowy room, with daylight falling through the perforated canopy into circular patches on the concrete floor.
The work takes its name from the moment the moon appears on the horizon, when a familiar scene begins to change. This sense of collective pause runs through the booth. Visitors can sit on low concrete cylinders, move through arched openings, or gaze up at the laminated skin as shadows shift with the sun. The project gives the park a small urban interior, open to the weather and the surrounding greenery, while still creating a sense of enclosure.
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a canopy of thin aluminum strips
Marc Fornes and his Brooklyn studio MUCH is known for structures that lie between architecture, art and engineering, often using extremely thin materials to produce large self-supporting forms. At Moonrise, this research takes the form of a double-layered shell made from bespoke aluminum structural strips, each just three millimeters thick. The pieces are riveted together, forming an interlocking system that gains strength through geometry rather than mass.
The surface of the dome bears the logic of its assembly. Thousands of seams, fasteners and layered panels remain visible throughout the white leather, turning construction into design. The large openings reduce the weight of the structure while giving it a gentle visual rhythm, almost like a lunar surface translated into architecture. Some openings are framed by treetops. Others cast circular pools of light on the ground, so the booth keeps changing without anything having to move.
Moonrise rises as a white aluminum dome in Chattanooga Tennessee
computation meets public space
With Moonrise, THEVERYMANY also extends a lineage of dome thinking through modern construction. The project draws from Buckminster Fuller’s interest in doing more with less and then conveys this idea through computational design and digital fabrication. Rather than treating efficiency as a purely technical goal, the team uses it to create a public space of visual interest and complexity, where the structural system also shapes the visitor experience.
There the work is more alive. The mechanics disappear into the ease of encounter. Kids can chase the dotted shadows, while adults can sit on the edge and take in the breeze. From above, the pavilion becomes a white, perforated circle next to the path, its shadow casting across the lawn like a secondary design.
Within the landscape of Chattanooga’s park, Moonrise suggests how advanced construction can create space for shared excitement, giving a technical object a surprisingly human rhythm.
Marc Fornes and THEVERYMANY designed the pavilion to mark the Wheland Foundry Trailhead
the permanent structure creates a shaded public hall within the park
circular openings frame the sky, trees and shifting clouds
