Apertures
Client: SCI-Arc Gallery
Program: Installation
Size: 500 sq ft
Budget: $20,000
Completion Date: December 8th 2014
Built: Built
Material: Thermaformed plastic
Architect: Herwig Baumgartner, Scott Uriu
Involvement: Sound by Hannes Koecher
Team: Aaron Ryan, Nema Ashjaee, Viola Ago, Nick Taylor, Derek Ramsey, Andranik Ognayan
Consultant: Matthew Melnyk (structural engineer)
Apertures
Baumgartner+Uriu's APERTURES is a site-specific installation designed for the SCI-Arc Gallery.
Rooted in Baumgartner+Uriu's work and ongoing research, Apertures challenges the notion of an architectural opening as a static object. Moreover, it aims to redefine the DNA of a window both in terms of its appearance and materiality, as well as its nature as an object in continuous flux, responding to its environment through movement or sound. The pavilion and its apertures are designed to physically engage the visitor with the architectural work through sensors and sound feedback loops creating an immersive spatial environment in which the visitor can experience their own biorhythms.
The 16‐foot‐tall, thin shell structure was designed to solely rely on its extremely thin surface(1/8”) as support, requiring no additional structural elements. Structure and surface are collapsed into a single component supported through its shape, creased surfaces and material strength only. Each one of the 233 panels is unique in terms of its shape. They are CNC milled from polyurethane foam, heat formed out of thermoplastic polymer resin, and then laminated together into a single object. Unique to this project is the proposal of building as organism, challenging how architecture can interface with its users and its environment in which the boundary between the human body and architectural object dissolves into an immersive, interactive environment. This entails both the use of technology to augment its performance and a design aesthetic that is incongruous and can incorporate analog features into a digital design process.
Rooted in Baumgartner+Uriu's work and ongoing research, Apertures challenges the notion of an architectural opening as a static object. Moreover, it aims to redefine the DNA of a window both in terms of its appearance and materiality, as well as its nature as an object in continuous flux, responding to its environment through movement or sound. The pavilion and its apertures are designed to physically engage the visitor with the architectural work through sensors and sound feedback loops creating an immersive spatial environment in which the visitor can experience their own biorhythms.
The 16‐foot‐tall, thin shell structure was designed to solely rely on its extremely thin surface(1/8”) as support, requiring no additional structural elements. Structure and surface are collapsed into a single component supported through its shape, creased surfaces and material strength only. Each one of the 233 panels is unique in terms of its shape. They are CNC milled from polyurethane foam, heat formed out of thermoplastic polymer resin, and then laminated together into a single object. Unique to this project is the proposal of building as organism, challenging how architecture can interface with its users and its environment in which the boundary between the human body and architectural object dissolves into an immersive, interactive environment. This entails both the use of technology to augment its performance and a design aesthetic that is incongruous and can incorporate analog features into a digital design process.