Building on a previous piece entitled “Suspension Bridge, the passage”, Olivier Grossetête’s ‘Pont de Singe’ in the UK is a model of floating bridge attached to helium balloons, thus taking literally the term “suspension bridge “. The object aims to connect two mobile spaces, questioning its usefulness. This bridge becomes a floating symbol of all relationships, and embodies the space surrounding its slight movements caused by our air movement. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Rain Room is an art installation by rAndom presented at the Barbican in London composed of a hundred square metre field of falling water through which it is possible to walk, trusting that a path can be navigated, without being drenched in the process. As you progress through The Curve, the sound of water and a suggestion of moisture fill the air, before you are confronted by this carefully choreographed downpour that responds to your movements and presence. The installation was made possible through the generous support of the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation for Art. The video was done by Gramafilm, with music by Max Richter. More images can be viewed after the break.
Originating from the ‘pure plate’ structure occurring in natural structures such as sea urchins, and based on a hexagonal geometry, the Spaceplates Greenhouse is being used for the first time this term by horticultural staff and students at City of Bristol College’s South Bristol Skills Academy in Hengrove Park, Bristol. Designed by N55, with Architect, Anne Romme, the project is constructed using an innovative building system based on aluminum and polycarbonate and accommodates work, growing and teaching space. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The HARDWARE SOFTCORE Installation, designed by Gabriele Falconi, is directed to the interaction of the viewer, to his involvement, even physical, as an actor aware of choices and paths. Of monumental size, its modular installation was born from the idea of using the standard scaffolding system, which is made of shiny galvanized steel, repeating and assembling in vertical and horizontal direction.“The use of construction element, the simplest, declined to unusual, different, ambiguous shapes. For a skeleton of a large lizard, a cathedral with many naves, an interstellar starship. All that is involved here is multiple and transforms itself, starting from temporary basis to monumental forms, contradicting its premises. And finding its attractive side in construction hardware.” – Falconi. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Established in June 2010, 100Landschaftsarchitektur shared with us the current status of Jardin de la Connaissance which is still up and thriving. With the knowledge truly disappearing into the forest, the book structures have decayed in the natural setting, but have also provided various micro-environments for a range of local creatures. Interacting with the forest, seedlings and insects have activated the walls, carpets and benches while mushrooms – those cultivated and those who have come by themselves – have made the garden their home. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Anupama Kundoo‘s Wall House, originally built in Auroville, India in 2000, will be partially reconstructed at a 1:1 scale at the Venice Biennale this year for the theme of “Common Ground” by director David Chipperfield. This portion of the exhibition is supported by the University of Queensland, whose students and staff will assist with the construction of the replica alongside Indian craftspeople and Italian builders. The house has been described as a testing ground for spatial and technological innovation. In its debut at the Venice Biennale, it will afford Kundoo the opportunity to further explore these experiments.
Follow us after the break to see the innovations behind this widely acknowledged piece of architecture.
Among the rushed atmosphere of the Singapore Changi Airport, ART+COM has created an installation in which brings all the commotion to a halt. Located in the departure check-in hall of Terminal 1, “Kinetic Rain” is composed of 608 lightweight aluminum rain droplets, coated in copper, that are suspended from thin steel ropes on two opposing escalators. Each droplet seemingly floats into its precise location during a 15-minute, computationally designed choreography where the two parts move together in unison. The entire installation spans a total area of more than 75 square meters and spreads over 7.3 meters in height.
Designed by OH.NO.SUMO, the ‘Stairway Cinema’ installation experiments with architecture and the way it can engage with the public in unique and exciting ways. This project takes inspiration from the site and its inhabitants. Located at the busy pedestrian intersection of two inner city streets in Auckland, New Zealand, the installation offers a very simple programmatic response to recognize and counter the issue of how a community must be linked not only virtually but also physically. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The idea of the Quattro Punti per una Torre installation, designed by Massimo Iosa Ghini for FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti, is to use the primordial monolith, the whole massive block of stone material. In collaboration with Iguzzini, Tecnovision, and Faraonea, the project at the University of Milan represents produced architecture and sculptures from time immemorial, repeated through the use of the large-sized ceramic slab with a finish that draws inspiration from the quarry stone. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Stefan Tuchila, an architecture photographer based in Bucarest/Paris shared with us a set of images of the latest Monumenta exhibition in Paris. After the amazing installation by Anish Kapoor last year, it was Daniel Buren‘s time to take this challenge and create a concept for the 2012 edition.
The first stage in the Augmented Structures project by Salon2 is the Augmented Structures v1.1: Acoustic Formations / İstiklâl Caddesi installation which reanimates phenomena (architecture, sound and visual arts) that appear to be completed and concluded. The acoustic memory of İstiklâl Caddesi is first transformed into an architectural surface and then this solid form becomes a dynamic visual performance through a 400m2 installation on the facade of Yapı Kredi Bank Culture Building. More images and architects’ description after the break.
At first glance, Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis’ Contour Crafting (CC) seems both fascinating and unreal – a fabrication machine that has the potential to construct entire structures in a single run. Supported by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, CC’s combination of conventional robotics and “age-old tools” creates a layered fabrication process where large-scale parts can be fabricated at remarkable speeds. On his blog, Khoshnevis, a professor in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, explains that the system is a scale-up of the rapid prototyping machines now widely used in industry to “print out” three-dimensional objects designed with CAD/CAM software, usually by building up successive layers of plastic. ”Instead of plastic, Contour Crafting will use concrete,” explained Khoshnevis.
If you quickly glance at this first image of Point Supreme Architects’ newest installation, you may being wondering what that blue volume is or even wondering what could happen in that small space. But, if you’re wondering what it is made of, well, that question yields the most interesting answer. The architects teamed with two visual artists, a musician and a performance artist/choreographer to design this installation and performance piece made 100% from blue foam insulation panels!
More information about this installation and more images of the amazing foam work after the break.
A sculptural installation by VeeV Design, entitled Field Rupture, rests upon the courtyard of a 1950s modern house in Berkeley Hills, California. Since the installation is applied over the topological surface, the shifting ground conceptually pushes the surface vertically, and, as the name implies, this action causes the surface to “rupture.” Using a laser cutter to produce the digital fabrication, the sheet metal formation seems to burst from the ground as a “figure of two planes pushing against one another.”
The 11th Venice Biennaleis just around the corner, starting on Sept 14th with a preview on Sept 11th-13th. I´m eager to see the pavillions and installations on the Biennale, specially because the title for this version is “Out There: Architecture Beyond Building” on which Aaron Betsky, the curator, says ” “will point the way towards an architecture liberated from buildings to engage the central issues of our society; instead of the tombs of architecture, which is to say buildings, it will present site specific installations, visions and experiments that help us figure out, make sense of and feel at home in our modern world”.
One of this installations is “AirXY: From Inmaterial to Rematerial” by M-A-D, an interdisciplinary design firm with primary expertise in branding and visual communications. From their authors: he airXY screen is folded to seem as if it had burst out of the wall behind. as visitors approach they notice what appears to be a giant checkerboard with a vertical line scanning from left to right. suggesting the surface of an interface, a desktop and a machine simultaneously, on further observation, the visitors see that the composition is, in fact, charting the passing of time along an XY axis divided into 24×60 units. in addition to the vertical line and rectangular XY units, tiny green abstract icons are floating across the screen, looking like runes, contemporary urban signs or the graphic language of circuit diagrams”.
