The Tal Senior Architects (TSA) Coney Island Pavilion project is an all-season generator of activity, drawing the public into the boardwalk, the beach, and Surf Avenue and provides a new recreational destination.

All through the history pavilions have acted as paradigms of innovative design.
Pavilions proved, to a great extent, to be catalysts for animating parks like in the example of Parc de la Villette Paris, waterfronts and urban districts by accommodating an extremely great number of recreational and commercial activities. The Van Alen Institute, New York directed the Pavilion project to sit in the shadow of the famed Parachute Jump – an iconic reminder of Coney Island’s historic past.

The TSA design tries to stretch the limits of the traditional pavilion, both formally and programmatically, and we strive for a concept that connects to both the history and future of Coney Island. Given the richness of its legends, the pure scale of its role in the psyche, and the identity of New York City, contemplating the future of Coney Island can be intimidating.

While only one part of the greater plans for Coney Island, the pavilion has nevertheless the potential to make a grand statement: Coney Island continues to reproduce ahead, while paying respect to and building upon its past.

Our design revolves around the notion of creating a “shadow pavilion”; both physical and abstract, in order to echo the past of the Parachute jump structure and activity. The spatial atmosphere in the pavilion is intended to resemble the moment of being encompassed by the space under a parachute with shadows and a Parachute roof-like structure.

The shadow pavilion is designed to act as a bridge between Steeplechase Pier and KeySpan Park, hence attracting people into the pavilion. The way through the pavilion will pass by the restaurant on one side and the commercial area on the other side, therefore enabling the public to enter both functions. The bridge, the garden below and the space inside the pavilion will perform as a place where street activities, we believe, would take place and vitalise the area of the boardwalk, the beach and Surf Avenue of Coney Island.