The third annual Antepavilion is a three-storey colourful rooftop structure designed by Maich Swift Architects that will be used as a canal-side theatre and is topped with a light beacon.
Named Potemkin Theatre, the pavilion has been built on top of a warehouse in Haggerston. It has been designed to be the backdrop to performances that will be viewed both from across the canal and on the roof of the building.

The pavilion commissioned by the Architecture Foundation, takes its name from Grigory Potemkin, an 18th-century Russian military leader who purportedly built a series of phoney villages to impress Empress Catherine II.
Maich Swift Architects took this idea of a building that is merely a facade to create a structure that has two distinct aspects. The canal side is much more finished and complete, while the side that can be seen from the building is more open, with the pavilion's structure visible.

"It's named Potemkin Theatre because we are interested in the revealing of the structure behind a lively and colourful frontage, said Ted Swift, co-founder of Maich Swift Architects.
"This two-sided aspect lends itself to engagement from both the canal-side and the rooftop," he told Dezeen.

The three-storey structure, which was constructed by a team of volunteers over a period of 25 days, is built from a series of laminated-veneer timber frames.
The canal-side facade has been clad with canvas panels to create a flat abstract form, that will act as the back...