Please join the APT WGLC on Friday July 12, to tour the in-progress work at the Royal Thai Pavilion, located at the Olbrich Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin. The revival of the Royal Thai Pavilion includes the replacement of traditional materials including wood, clay roof tiles, and lead flashings, and the restoration of highly ornamented decorative paints, gold leaf gilding, and mirrored mosaic tiles. This tour will be conducted by Stacey Keller of InSite Consulting Architects and Kalam Construction Company, and will coincide with in-progress decorative finishes work.
The Royal Thai Pavilion in Madison, Wisconsin is one of only six pavilions outside of Thailand, given as a gift to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the City by the Thai Royal Family. The structure is built of traditional materials, including wood, clay roof tiles, and lead flashings, and highly ornamented with decorative painting, gold leaf gilding, and mirrored mosaic tiles. All of its original materials and construction were created in Thailand and reconstructed at its current site. With its continuous exterior exposure in a northern climate, the tropical based materials were beginning to fail after 20 years.
New tiles were specified with northern clay tile requirements, and the team worked to create an exact match of the original tiles. New strategies for weather barriers were incorporated into the roofing system to prevent continued damage to the ceiling panels below. Modern and traditional techniques were provided for wood repairs of dry-rotted conditions, decorative paint, stenciling, gold leaf gilding, and mosaic tile replacement to bring the structure back to its original grandeur.
https://www.olbrich.org/gardens/thai-pavilion-garden