Faulty Wedding Cake pavilion to be dismantled at Waddesdon Manor

A 12-metre-high pavilion shaped like a wedding cake is set to be dismantled at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, UK, after it was closed over health and safety concerns.

A spokesperson for the Grade I-listed country house told the BBC that the pavilion, which was installed in 2023, was not “open for quite as long as hoped” due to faults in its ceramic tiles.

The sculptural pavilion, simply named Wedding Cake, was designed by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos as a permanent garden pavilion for the grounds of Waddesdon Manor.

Its three tiers are wrapped in glazed, pastel-toned ceramic tiles made by the historic Portuguese tile manufacturer Viúva Lamego and intended to look like cake icing. They are now faulty, forcing the structure to close because of concerns about their safety.

A report including photos of the damaged tiles was shared on Buckinghamshire Council’s online planning portal, but the root cause has not been publicly stated.

Baroque sculptural tiles on the pavilion facade

According to the BBC, a Buckinghamshire Council officer found that no viable solution to repair the faulty tiles had been identified.

As such, the council has approved a change to the listed building consent, allowing the sculpture to be removed. As the manor and its grounds are protected sites, permission must be obtained to carry out such work.

The structure must now be removed no later than January 2036. However, the Rothschild Foundation, which manages the estate, wants the sculpture removed as soon as possible, according to the BBC.

The revised consent also requires the surrounding landscape to be returned to grass within six months of its removal.

When the pavilion was completed, its designer Vasconcelos told Dezeen it was her “most ambitious project to date”.

Her use of tiles reflected her ambition to use ceramics and textiles to challenge traditional hierarchies of what she called “noble materials”, such as marble, in grand architectural settings.

The manufacturer Viúva Lamego’s standard 14-by-14 centimetre tiles determined the size of the overall structure. It has an 11-metre diameter, which was the smallest that could be achieved using the tiles.

The pavilion is the fourth project by Vasconcelos created for the estate, which was built in the 1870s by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to entertain guests and showcase his ceramic collections.

A spokesperson for the manor said it plans to continue to commission artwork for its grounds.

“We are hoping to continue to showcase art in the landscape, including plans for a new contemporary sculpture trail in the grounds of Waddesdon Manor, which will open in July 2027,” they said.

Other projects by Vasconcelos featured on Dezeen include a 24-metre-long textile installation for Dior’s Autumn Winter 2023 catwalk show.

Elsewhere, we recently reported on the dismantling of Rike Concert Hall, designed by Italian practice Studio Fuksas. It is being demolished less than 15 years after it was completed, and before ever opening to the public.