The self-consuming barbecue pavilion

Caroline O'Donnell has proposed sketches for a project called Bloodline, an isolated grilling structure composed of wooden grilling sticks (grillholz) that would literally consume itself as the summer grilling season progresses into fall.


What's perhaps most interesting is that the pavilion is based upon the designs of "solitude castles" in Germany in the late 1700s. Isolated, hidden rooms were built in these castles to make servants invisible to their masters while they prepared food:

Ingeniously, O'Donnell's proposed site for Bloodline means that our barbecuing hero, standing in front of the grill-window on the southwest-facing side of the pavilion, is the only person in their party who can see that they are actually inside the missing third castle.

In other words, while their friends and family relax in the grounds outside the pavilion, eating sausages they haven't had to prepare, "only the servant (or grill-master) will know the truth," explains O'Donnell, "although they can sneak others in, to share the secret."

In terms of grilling experience, the barbecue pavilion that becomes a secret, personal castle seems second to none. "After that, the sausages are not my responsibility," O'Donnell told me. "There are however custom spaces built into the pavilion on the west side for a fire-extinguisher and a fire-blanket, as well as a big vent on the east side that aligns with the prevailing wind and uses the stack-effect to ventilate the space naturally."

Only the grill master will know the truth...