Turning the performance hall into a dynamic environment for various types of musical events, the Resonant Chamber installation explores the acoustic possibilities of a space. It investigates ways in which it can be customized and adapted to suit almost any type of performance.

The installation is made of three cloud-like structures. The electro-acoustic prototypes in the shape of tessellated origami patterns aim to develop a soundsphere able to adjust its properties in response to changing sonic conditions. The structure alters the sound of a space during the performance by combining reflective and absorptive materials, along with sensors and output devices configured to achieve the optimal conditions for the sound occurring in the room.  The rigid panel system includes distributed model loudspeakers. This technology allows sound to be produced through the face panels themselves by introducing vibrations through an electro-acoustic exciter. Read the rest of this entry »

Fourfoursixsix (Daniel Welham & Mark Nicol) were invited to participate as one of the artists for the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt. The city will became home to 200 giant and uniquely crafted Easter eggs for an event that is a first of its kind, aiming to raise vital funds for charities Action for Children and Elephant Family, inviting tourists, locals, and visitors to join in a truly magical experience.

As an architecture practice, Fourfoursixsix  felt it would be both topical and interesting to apply a set of architectural principles to the overall geometric form of the egg. Through this process they played with structure, light, and shadow and began to develop a three dimensional architectural terrain.

Conceptually, the design works around a rational grid of components that have been configured to react to both light and scale over the surface of the egg. Each component was designed to incorporate an aperture which could adapt to these changing surface conditions, thus altering the patternation of the egg. Read the rest of this entry »

The installation designed by Andrew Saunders is composed of 1,224 folded, developable surfaces (surfaces that can be unrolled onto a plane without distortion) digitally-generated and fabricated from sheets of translucent high-density polyethylene. It is inspired by the affects luminosity, translucency, and weightlessness transposed from The Hyde Collection’s painting of The Annunciation by the Italian Renaissance master, Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510). The Rensselaer fabrication challenges the Cartesian geometry and symmetry of the gallery space as it fluctuates between display and partition. It provides an affective environment that influences circulation as well as divides, unites and exhibits the Z-print models. Read the rest of this entry »

Once known for its mills, the UK town of Burnley has developed into a regional center for engineering and advanced manufacturing. As a way of acknowledging the town’s pioneering role in the practice of measuring rainfall, architects at Tonkin Liu have designed an installation that embodies two of its major climatic forces. Entering into a dialogue with the elements is often expressed in the Studio’s work through the creation of a sensory output. Their Singing Ringing Tree sculpture, also designed for Burnley, uses wind to articulate sound.

The Rainbow Gate is located in front of the Burnley College, where three main traffic routes converge. Its shape is inspired by the town’s numerous viaducts, and it aims to frame the views of the surrounding landscape in a similar manner. Rain is channeled into the ground along the structure’s dynamic natural geometry, while 133 prisms capture sunlight and array it in a full color spectrum on the ground. At night, the prisms are lit from bellow, casting rainbows into the mist. Read the rest of this entry »

“Sheer Pressure” is one of three projects completed during USC School of Architecture’s annual “Top Fuel” workshop, an intensive one-week fabrication charette. This year the workshop focused on pneumatic systems, under the advisement of Achim Menges and Thomas Auer. Our group – composed of eight upper-division students from USC and SCI-Arc – studied the relationship between pneus and constraining tensile forces. Our initial study models looked at the many ways air-inflated structures could puncture through fabric, and generate different lighting effects. Read the rest of this entry »

The 10th anniversary of the Museumsquartier Vienna was celebrated with a commission of a mapping façade projection by Urbanscreen. The 8 minute piece MQ10 | Architectural Staging, projected on two full sides of the Leopold Museum’s austere walls, is based on the architectural elements of the building itself. The non-narrative video mapping immediately ‘folds’ the walls into parametric forms and rebuilds the building in continually abstract ways. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed for Driade, the outdoor chairs evoke the intimate feeling and familiarity of domestic life and handcrafted furniture. Made of hand-woven resin wicker on an aluminium frame, the series includes a seat and rocking armchair. Names are derived from the amount of time required for moulding the shapes. Fabio Novembre describes the creative process: Read the rest of this entry »

As a part of the 2012 New Museum Triennial The Ungovernables currently on exhibit is artist Danh Võ’s deconstruction of the Statue of Liberty. WE THE PEOPLE is a gesture of installation using architecture and sculpture as an underpinning for a more unsettled experience. Copper sheets were assembled in an exact replica of the originals weight and scale, placed in sections on the floor in an undetermined state. The panels are hammered using the same technique as the original statue to the same tolerances. Taken from a larger collection of more recognizable pieces the series of parametric copper plates read as though they are part of a contemporary façade or pavilion. The pieces allude formally to modernist sculpture such as the work of Richard Serra, where form and materiality is the subject . Read the rest of this entry »

This remodeling project was executed within a Hong Kong’s public rental building, in the attempt to merge two typical existenzminimum units and enhance their spatial qualities, regarding natural lighting, ventilation and privacy.

The project was designed by Kwok Tung Chun. He elaborates on the process:

“On the original plan, it is not possible to create two rooms which have widows toward outdoor, so I curved the new created wall for setting a window and door on a 45 degree in order to introduce sunlight and air flow into one of the rooms. In the other room, I patterned the wall with specified openings which insulating the sight but light and air-flow still be able to get into the room. Therefore the nature lighting and ventilation are able to happen in these two rooms. Read the rest of this entry »

American designer Stuart Fingerhut has created the Kinema Pendant Luminaire. This 10″ x 12″ x 14″ lighting object uses a combination of different layers in order to create a specific effect and appearance. The luminaire is unique in its ability to give the user control of the light’s character to match the mood of the environment. Each of the pendant’s rings can be individually flipped to create dramatic light and shadow effects, as a single object or in multiples. The designer states he was inspired by the movement of crustaceans; a wide variety of forms can be created by arranging the pendant’s rings in alternating open and closed positions. Read the rest of this entry »