1. ArchDaily
  2. Installation

Installation: The Latest Architecture and News

Guto Requena’s “I AM” Installation Lights Up Paulista Avenue with People’s Emotions

Part street furniture, part data visualization, Guto Requena’s “I am” installation in São Paulo invited passers-by to interact with the city and connect with one another. Observers were asked to sit on a bench and take a picture of themselves, while also selecting which of six emotions they were feeling at the time: love, joy, surprise, anger, fear or sadness.

Each emotion was associated with a color through which the photo was filtered before appearing on the main façade of the FIESP Building along Paulista Avenue. The images then faded into a graph to colorfully display the predominant emotions at the moment. 

Janet Echelman Suspends Net Sculpture Over London's Oxford Circus

London is the latest city to host one of Janet Echelman's stunning net sculptures. Suspended 180 feet above Oxford Circus, the city's busiest intersections, the colorful floating form was inspired by 1.8 - "the length of time in microseconds that the earth’s day was shortened" as a result of Japan's devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

"The sculpture’s form was inspired by data sets of the tsunami’s wave heights rippling across the entire Pacific Ocean," says the studio. "The artwork delves into content related to our complex interdependencies with larger cycles of time and our physical world. The sculpture’s net structure is a physical manifestation of interconnectedness – when any one element moves, every other element is affected."

Glowing Trees / spatial practice

Glowing Trees / spatial practice - Arts & Architecture, Facade, LightingGlowing Trees / spatial practice - Arts & ArchitectureGlowing Trees / spatial practice - Arts & Architecture, LightingGlowing Trees / spatial practice - Arts & ArchitectureGlowing Trees / spatial practice - More Images+ 8

Hello Wood Creates Three Christmas Trees in Budapest, London and Manchester

For the third consecutive year, Hello Wood—an international educational platform of design and architecture based in Hungary—have "rethought the Christmas Tree." Their three festive installations, in London, Manchester and Budapest, have been designed to live beyond the holiday season and will be recycled into new structures to help different causes in the New Year. "The role of architecture has changed a lot in the last few years," says Peter Pozsar, co-founder of Hello Wood. "Hello Wood represents this socially responsive architecture."

View the three projects after the break.

“Impulse” Installation Turns Montreal into a Musical Playground

The product of Toronto-based Lateral Office and Montreal-based CS Design, in collaboration with EGP Group, Mitchell Akiyama, Maotik and Iregular, “Impulse” is a winter installation in the city of Montreal. Thirty giant seesaws and a series of video-projections on surrounding building facades, all with accompanying music, transform the Place des Festivals into an “illuminated playground.” The project was selected as the winner of an open competition this past summer, for the sixth annual Luminothérapie event. Read more about this interactive installation after the break.

Tomás Saraceno Unveils Air-Filled Sculptures at COP21 That Will Travel the World

As part of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, Tomás Saraceno has revealed a sculptural installation, “Aerocene - Around the world to change the world," at the Grand Palais and Palais de Tokyo. The project features a series of air-filled sculptures that float without burning fossil fuels or using engines, solar panels or batteries.

Sam Jacob Studio Replicate a Standing Sarsen Stone in the Centre of Milton Keynes

London-based practice Sam Jacob Studio, led by a former partner of FAT, have installed a 1:1 replica of a standing sarsen stone from the Avebury stone circle in the centre of the British New Town of Milton Keynes. The 'MK Menhir', situated on a Porte Cochère on the city's Midsummer Boulevard, has been (CNC) milled from hard-coated foam using data from a 3D scan of the original stone. It has been given an iridescent tint using techniques similar to those used to spray paint a car.

How Donald Judd's 100 Shimmering Aluminum Boxes Light Up the Chinati Foundation

Completed in 1986, Donald Judd's 100 aluminum boxes offer one of the most exciting locations to study the grace of minimalism. His vision at Marfa in Texas has transformed a piece of military history into a peaceful and unique environment for art and architecture. Here, the shimmering material transcends the formal strictness of plain patterns and the narrow concepts of minimalism. The multiple reflections of light and space create an illusionary atmosphere beyond ascetic ideas.

Collective-LOK Designs Mirrored, Ring of Hearts Pavilion for Times Square

Collective-LOK’s design for a circular pavilion made up of giant mirrored hearts has been selected as the winner of the 2016 Times Square Valentine Heart installation. Their "Heart of Hearts" proposal features a faceted ring made up of nine mirrored, golden hearts that will “create an alternative pavilion that reflects and multiplies the pulsating activity of Times Square.” Spaces within each heart will form “kissing booths where couples will find their activities mirrored, allowing both privacy and publicity.”

Open Call: EXHIB-IT! Florim Architectural Installation in Milan

Florim has launched a competition to design a temporary architectural installation that showcases images from relevant architectural works built with ceramics. This event will take place during the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition in the very centre of Milan and the competition is open to designers, architects and creative communities worldwide. Learn more about the competition after the break.

Installation: JB1.0: Jamming Bodies

"JB1.0: Jamming Bodies" is an immersive installation that transforms Storefront’s gallery space into a laboratory. The installation, a collaboration between science fiction artist Lucy McRae and architect and computational designer Skylar Tibbits with MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab, explores the relationship between human bodies and the matter that surrounds them.

The Best Structures of Burning Man 2015

It has been a week since the conclusion of this year's Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, and images of its most imaginative structures are still surfacing. Even Bjarke Ingels has published a few of his favorite findings from the week-long event. Read on to see of the best structures and installations found at Burning Man 2015.

Nikolay Polissky Unveils His Latest Wood Installation in Russia

Russian artist Nikolay Polissky has completed yet another of his impressive, handcrafted installations. Located in Zvizzhi Village, in the Ugra National Park in Russia, Polissky’s newest creation—called SELPO, which stands for The Rural Consumer Association, in Russian—wraps around an abandoned soviet building, which used to house the village shop.

The project utilizes off-cut materials from Polissky’s previous work, which has ranged “from temporary pieces of landscape proportions, collectively created […] to public art works in city parks or sculpture parks […] in Europe and in Russia, as well as museum installations.”

Nikolay Polissky Unveils His Latest Wood Installation in Russia - Image 1 of 4Nikolay Polissky Unveils His Latest Wood Installation in Russia - Image 2 of 4Nikolay Polissky Unveils His Latest Wood Installation in Russia - Image 3 of 4Nikolay Polissky Unveils His Latest Wood Installation in Russia - Image 4 of 4Nikolay Polissky Unveils His Latest Wood Installation in Russia - More Images+ 7

RIBA Presents Regent Street Windows Project

The RIBA Regent Street Windows Project pairs exceptional architects with flagship retailers to create architectural installations in the windows of fashion retailers, skincare boutiques, perfumeries, restaurants and cafes along and around Regent Street, London. Now in its sixth year, the project has been developed in partnership with the Regent Street Association, and creates a vast public architecture exhibition seen by more than one million people each week. Open for three weeks in September, it ties into the city-wide London Design Festival and the internationally renowned London Fashion Week.

2015 Design Biennial Boston

The 2015 Design Biennial Boston, now in its 4th edition, is a program that foregrounds emerging architects, landscape architects, and designers who have created inspiring and innovative practices in Massachusetts. Following an open call for entries, four firms—Cristina Parreño Architecture, GLD, Landing Studio, and MASS Design Group—were selected in March 2015 by a jury of distinguished professionals and academics. In the months since, the firms have been preparing installations that are on view on the Rose Kennedy Greenway through September 25.

TU/e Students Design Stage for Extrema Outdoor Music Festival

Under the guidance of three teachers, four students from the Department of the Built Environment at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have designed and built a stage, “Ensuite,” for the 20th Extrema Outdoor, a music festival in Aquabest, Netherlands.

The structure is composed of 600 pallets, creating a stage that embraces visitors and provides an intimate environment within the crowded festival. By placing the DJ booth in the center of the structure, the stage is made tactile and experiential for visitors.

TU/e Students Design Stage for Extrema Outdoor Music Festival - Image 1 of 4TU/e Students Design Stage for Extrema Outdoor Music Festival - Image 2 of 4TU/e Students Design Stage for Extrema Outdoor Music Festival - Image 3 of 4TU/e Students Design Stage for Extrema Outdoor Music Festival - Image 4 of 4TU/e Students Design Stage for Extrema Outdoor Music Festival - More Images+ 12

Syracuse University Creates “Trans(inter)ference” Installation for Festival des Architectures Vives

For the 10th Festival des Architectures Vives in Montpellier, Syracuse University commissioned a team to design an installation in the courtyard of Hôtel Audessan. The project, “Trans(inter)ference,” was a 3D drawing designed and constructed by Maya Alam and Daniele Profeta, with the help of three Syracuse University students.

Focusing on the in-between of architecture, the project favors the space between idea and resolution, "between old and new." The installation was developed by projecting the facades of Hôtel Audessan through one another, creating a labyrinth of layered views.

Syracuse University Creates “Trans(inter)ference” Installation for Festival des Architectures Vives - Image 1 of 4Syracuse University Creates “Trans(inter)ference” Installation for Festival des Architectures Vives - Image 2 of 4Syracuse University Creates “Trans(inter)ference” Installation for Festival des Architectures Vives - Image 3 of 4Syracuse University Creates “Trans(inter)ference” Installation for Festival des Architectures Vives - Image 4 of 4Syracuse University Creates “Trans(inter)ference” Installation for Festival des Architectures Vives - More Images+ 16

Video: The Wings / Studio Daniel Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind teamed up with the professionals at Immersive and Innovision to realize the four 10-meter-high, "shimmering" sculptures that are outlining the Milan Expo 2015's central square. The LED-lit aluminium structures, dubbed "the Wings," were designed to "animate the public space with a constant flow of pulsating patterns and imagery related to the theme of the Expo: health, energy, sustainability and technology." They will remain on view through the duration of the Expo, which concludes October 31.