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Apollo Pavillion
Apollo Pavillion
Described as a ‘synthesis of art and architecture’, The Apollo Pavilion was designed by one of the leading abstract artists of his day, Victor Pasmore.
Completed in July 1969, Passmore named the construction the Apollo Pavilion coinciding with the first Moon landing by the crew of Apollo 11.
Located in the Sunny Blunts housing estate, The Pavilion was never regarded as a stand-alone artwork, but as an integral part of the estate’s design within the landscape.
The Pavilion’s presence proved controversial after it fell into disrepair during the 1980s; though the site was refurbished in 2009, gaining a Grade II* Listed Building and is regarded by some as being one of the most significant works of art in Britain.
Time Period:
20th century
Themes:
Dr Stephen Parnell is an architect, teacher, writer, communicator, critic, and accidental historian of postwar architecture. He teaches architectural design and history at Newcastle University where his research focuses primarily on architectural media and on Brutalism. He practised as an architect in Perth, Australia and Sheffield, where he trained and completed a PhD on architecture magazines under Peter Blundell-Jones. Parnell exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2012, regularly contributes to architecture magazines internationally, and is Joint Editor-in-Chief of ARENA’s Journal of Architectural Research (AJAR). He is currently completing books on Concrete for Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series, on the architect Theo Crosby for Lund Humphries and on Architectural Design magazine for Harvard Design Press.
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