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Architects: Atelier Chang
- Area: 152 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Mr Kyungsub Shin
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Lead Architect: Soohyun Chang
Text description provided by the architects. Ripple Pavilion is the annual outdoor pavilion project at Gyeongnam Art Museum in South Korea. Thousands of pixels - acrylic tubes with mechanical joints - span across a waving canopy while scattering light and color in constantly changing expression. It is an interactive installation where people’s movements transform the appearance of the pavilion at different moments in time. The overall effect of the pavilion begins from a small contact with a tube, which swings other pixels in the vicinity to create rippling phenomenon. Then the physical movement translates into refracted colors transforming the whole installation into a moving iridescent field.
“The concept of the pavilion was conceived as a responsive environment” commented the lead designer Soohyun Chang. “A small initial input, such as a child’s touch, could propagate into unexpected patterns on the whole array of pixels like a butterfly effect. The playfulness of pavilion invites people at all ages to participate and to create their own moments.”
The geometry of the pavilion paid special attention to maximizing interaction. The waving double curvature optimizes contact points at different heights for different users. To fine-tune the interactive points in the 3d geometry, several iterations of the parametric model were shared with other consultants.
Then collaborative feedbacks helped to reach the final form. As a result, there are moments of pavilion suitable for standing users while crawling is the best way to experience in other areas. The mix of concave and convex spaces also allow a diverse array of colors to be perceived at any viewpoint. Dichroic film was used to amplify the impact of even a small movement. As the angle of the light changes for the viewer, each pixel wrapped in the film offers dramatically different color & light expression for a static audience as well as moving passer-by. With this dichroic effect of the pixels, the pavilion is a constantly transforming environment where active participants become a crucial part of the installation.
