Installation: The Latest Architecture and News

Exploring the evolving way in which we work, the POP-UP Office is an installation by DUBBELDAM Architecture + Design that uses modular units that can be combined in different ways. The result is a workspace that is simultaneously bare bones and tailored to the individual. This design becomes a great response to the profound shift in the way we work; when all we need is a surface to work on and a place to plug in, the working environment is no longer static. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Created and conceived by Patrick Duffy, the creative director of the OUT NYC, and designed by award-winning Italian designer and architect Antonio Pio Saracino, the Arches of Hope installation will be launched at its opening reception on Thursday, January 17, from 6:30pm-8:30pm at the OUT NYC and be on display until January 24. In collaboration with Lifebeat: Music Fights HIV/AIDS and the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, the stunning and inspiring interactive art installation will be unveiled on the eve of President Obama’s second inauguration as part of a multi-faceted campaign aimed at raising awareness of the rise of HIV and AIDS in young people. More images and information after the break.

FXFOWLE Architects shared with us their custom-design for the inaugural Miami Project art fair. Their installation, known as the ‘FXFOWLE Lounge’, features a free-standing architectural pavilion housed within a well-appointed lounge and bar area. The pavilion – which pairs technologically-sophisticated scripting software with simple museum board – comprises 180 varying segments that, together, take the form of complex structural geometries. More images and architects’ description after the break.

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.