The Markham Moor Papilio – A Picturesque Commentary

• Main Author: Karolina Szynalska
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Open University 2014-02-01
• Series: The Open Arts Journal
• Subjects: pavilion; Sam Scorer; service station; hyperbolic paraboloid; picturesque; ruin
• Online Access: http://openartsjournal.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/oaj_issue2_szynalska_final.pdf

This commentary on a little-known yet remarkable structure along the A1, originally built as a roadside petrol station with a canopy in the form of a hyperbolic paraboloid, demonstrates the affinity between the architecture of pavilions on the one hand, and on the other hand, some of the more modest or minor architectural functions that were innovated in the modern period. One of the few ‘hypars’ left over from post-war Britain, its butterfly-shaped canopy is not just a reminder of older etymological roots of the term pavilion, but also raises questions in the present-day about the conservation of recent architectural heritage that was perhaps only ever meant to be temporarily alighting in the landscape.