Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs

Great photographic work by the Swiss artist duo Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs, who built minimalist wood structures to continue the perspective of several buildings. See more;

via | trendbeheer

Joe Hamilton

Trouble in Utopia and Survey are two recent good works by Joe Hamilton. Both projects work under the disorientation and hyper-reality created by Joe working through animated collage, numerous layers, transitions and different perspectives. The first one was created for BYOB Melbourne 2013 which took place at the new RMIT design Hub building designed by Sean Godsell in Melbourne. As Joe Hamilton told us; "the video work Trouble in Utopia is about the building. The building is quite brutal and moderist which really appeals to my taste but at the same time the starkness of the concrete and metal surfaces is quite dystopian. The piece is about these contradicting thoughts about the building. The title for the piece was taken from an episode of the documentary series shock of the new by recently deceased art critic Robert Hughes. The episode is about modernism's failure to bring about the utopian city through architecture." (Into the post you can see the video but I recommend to see it at the project page as the video works together and synchronized with several backgrounds which makes the entire piece.)

The second piece into the post titled Survey is quite crazy, this time Joe has used real video footage and did an excellent exercise of tracking, by attaching onto the building and its outdoor another imagery source. I also like how he complemented the perspectives and structures with flat green plans which fit perfect but at the same time make a big contrast with the high presence of vegetation. See more;

Trouble in Utopia, 2013

http://joehamilton.info/trouble-in-utopia

Survey, 2013

Arcades by TROIKA

Arcades, 2012 by TROIKA_

"Arcades is a site specific installation that inscribes one architectural space within another; an arcade made of the light is implanted into a space defined by strong brick walls, a pitched roof and exposed wooden beams, that of a former stable. The arcade is given shape by a series of 14 pillars of light that are met by fresnel lenses refracting the rays that travel through their focal points. When travelling through the lenses, the light beams do not simply change direction but bend hyperbolically to form the arches of gothic architecture." See more;

"Arcades creates a spatial suspension of disbelief which questions our relationship with the metaphysical in a world increasingly governed by practical, rational and scientific principles. By confronting the viewer with the seemingly impossible phenomenon of bending light it creates a space for contemplation and introspection, suggesting a synthesis between agnostic reason and intuitive belief.

The arcade of light lies between the intangible and physical, the visible and the seemingly impossible. It asks the viewer to pause and contemplate the surrounding space whilst promoting openness rather than closure. The illusion doesn't usurp but rather re-enforces the experience of a space. Here, in the spirit of stain-glass, of ‘Lux Nova’, in which spirituality is invoked through light, science invokes the sublime."

'Arcades' is a site specific installation for Future Primitives, Biennale Interieur 2012, Kortrijk Belgium.
30 m (L) x 2 m (W) x 3.2 m (H) Lenses, lights, steel and aluminium

CORPUS - RESONANT ARCHITECTURE

CORPUS is a project by Jeremy Gravayat and Art of Failure that brings together sound, visuals and architecture. Based on the principle of vibration in resonance with the built environment, the sound system consists of speakers, vibrators and a score generated in real time incorporating pure frequencies. The Corpus series as a whole offers a unique approach to architecture, revealing the unique musicality of specific buildings by exciting their multiple resonance frequencies. Each special event in the series takes the form of a unique scenario, providing a physical and ghostly experience of built space. For the duration of the installation or public concert, the specific materials and structures of the chosen site are activated by low frequencies and reveal the acoustic qualities of the architecture and it's surroundings. In parallel to the live events, some performances are recorded and shown in the form of a documentary film. See more;

CORPUS - 4 movies about the project in Aquitane, this set of movies is based on site specific sound installations. Objects, furniture and the architecture of a place are set in resonance by low frequencies and reveal their own tones. Credits: Image recording & editing: Jeremy Gravayat - Sound recording & mixing: Art of Failure - Titles Design: Maria Roszkowska.

CORPUS - RESONANT ARCHITECTURE at Maison du Peuple Clichy, France

Opening December 1st 2012,  6 to 10pm - Installation > November 30 to December 2, 2012, 3pm to 8pm.

More info at http://corpus.artoffailure.org/en/

Corpus at Maison Latapie // Floirac, broadcasted on radio campus // Bordeaux

Corpus at Pole Agricole - Chateau Chasse Spleen // Moulis en Medoc

Corpus at Pyramide - École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture // Bordeaux 

Corpus at Funiculaire de Pau // Pau

Poetic Cosmos of the Breath by Tomas Saraceno

Tomas Saraceno is an artist and architect whose utopian visions for cities that float in the air has led him to create a series of experimental structures such as balloons or inflatable modular platforms that can be inhabited and exploit natural energies.
Poetic Cosmos of the Breath was an experimental solar dome created by Tomas Saraceno. It was launched at dawn on 22 September 2007 at Gunpowder Park, Essex, UK, commissioned by The Arts Catalyst. The project was inspired by the dome created by Dominic Michaelis in 1975, for the film Hu-Man.

In the morning with the sunrise, Saraceno and his team filled the foil with air (video into the post) giving form to this huge colorful ephemeral space which was pinned to the ground at the edges with sand bags.  The connection/reflection between the sun-light and the synthetic material di this magical environment. See more;

Photography by David Cottridge

via | IGNANT

The Ring by Arnaud Lapierre

The Ring by Arnaud Lapierre is a cylindrical sculpture in Place Vendôme in Paris.  Its structure has been designed to create a confused and abstract panorama because of the reflectable material on the surface and the holes on the own structure, it creates a mesmerizing optical effect when the visitors  pass through it. See more;

via | IGNANT

Little Shining Man

Little Shining Man, 2011 by Heather & Ivan Morison and Queen + Crawford_

"Little Shining Man is a sculpture that has the potential for flight. The design of the structure is based around the tetra kites of Alexander Graham Bell, multiplied out into colliding cubes that take their form from the cubic formations of the mineral Pyrite. A double wing module has been duplicated and arranged into a tight cellular structural arrangement that appears as a heavy, un-flyable mass. Utilising lightweight materials and the symmetry of the module and composition, it is able to fly freely and steadily." See more;

"The kite flown in the images is one section of an arrangement of three, that come together to create the final piece of sculpture that is taken own from display once a year to be flown in St. Aubin’s Bay.

There were several challenges in realising Little Shining Man. The structure had to be as strong and light as possible in order to fly, but had to return to earth with minimal damage so it could be installed as a piece of sculpture. Carbon fibre rod and Cuben fibre, a hand made composite fabric used primarily in racing yacht sails, achieved the perfect combination of strength and weight. The visual impact of the fabric produces an ethereal sense of depth and refraction that gives the heavy mass the lightest touch.

Queen & Crawford designed a joint system, the CKJ_01, a universal Nylon joint that would handle every connection in the composition. They work closely with 3TRPD in Newbury who are at the cutting edge of the Rapid Prototyping Industry. Printing the joints allows design, production, testing and refinement in a short time frame. The material is light and strong, perfect for this application.

More than 23,000 individual components make up the complete structure. Entirely assembled by hand; from design through to delivery more than 16 months of work." - Matthew Higginbottom, Queen + Crawford.

Credits: Conceived by Heather & Ivan Morison - Component design, detail design and fabrication by Queen & Crawford - Technical Consultation: Sash Reading - QCKJ_01 designer: Matthew Higginbottom - Fabricators: Matthew Foster, Matthew Higginbottom, Joseph Wheldon, Matthew North, John Hammersley - Machinists: Sue Fox, Zoey Evans - Video production and editing: JimandTonic - Photography: Matt Porteous.

General Manifold by Spatial Ops

General Manifold, 2012 by Spatial Ops_

"General Manifold is an immersive architectural environment installed in the abandoned Federal Screw Works factory complex in Chelsea, Michigan. This installation was the centerpiece of a collective exhibition organized by the architectural collaborative Spatial Ops and students from their Meta Friche research seminar at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

General Manifold reacts to the derelict context of the former industrial site, providing a moment of surprise and punctuation to the event. A mysterious magenta void is carved from the perceived solid of the factory’s central work area, generating a space of geometric complexity, chromatic contrast, and optical distortion. A series of precise cuts in the truncated pyramids produces an effect of perspectival inversion, causing the visitor to question the depth, dimension, and scale of this aberrant environment." - Spatial Ops. See more;

"Inside General Manifold, the visitor encounters a 6-channel soundscape consisting of spatially localized and syncopated industrial sounds layered over readings of seminal ruin texts from the 18th and 19th centuries (John Ruskin, Viollet le Duc, Bernadin de St. Pierre, Denis Diderot)."

ARCHITECT: Spatial Ops, PROJECT: General Manifold, CITY: Chelsea, SCALE: 700 sf inserted into 80,000 sf, TEAM: Melissa Bonfil, Virginia Black, Peyton Coles, Joey Filippelli, Brittany Gacsy, Chris Reznich, Michael Sanderson, Jeeeun Ham, Jennifer Komorowoski, Kyung Jin Hong, Jordan Johnson, Brian Muscat, Ash Thomas, Catherine Truong REINFORCEMENT: Bruce Findling, Nathan Doud, James Chestnut, Jason Stock.

via | plataforma arquitectura

O (OMICRON) by AntiVJ

O (OMICRON) is the latest masterpiece of AntiVJ. They make me feel the perfection as they become amazing real architectures from the past century in virtual ones extremely calculated for their installations such as O (OMICRON) which take place at the historic building Hala Stulecia, an architecture by Max Berg (1913) in  Wroclaw, Poland.  This is a permanent installation directed by Romain Tardy & Thomas Vaquié. I took an interesting info from AntiVJ's blog, as they explain really nice everything about this project;

"Last year, we were approached to create our first permanent installation for the new museum of architecture of Hala Stulecia, in Wroclaw, Poland. The piece – that we called O (Omicron), is actually the last part of the visit, and a way to create a link between the rich history of the building and the present times, by turning this massive concrete structure into a lively architecture. When opened, Hala Stulecia was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world. With a diameter of 65m it was home to the largest dome built since the Pantheon in Rome eighteen centuries earlier. The Centennial Hall was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006." - AntiVJ.  See more;

"It is reasonable to think that when Hala Stulecia was built in 1913 Max Berg’s ambition for his construction was to pass the test of time. What could have been his vision of the monument in the distant future? How did he imagine the olding of the materials? The evolution of the surrounding urbanism and populations?

The piece proposed for the Centennial Hall of Wroclaw is based around the notion of timelessness in architecture, and the idea of what future has meant throughout the 20th century.

Taking the 1910’s as a starting point (the dome was erected in 1913), historical and artistic references were used to reveal the architecture of the space, its timeless and, more surprisingly, very modern dimension."

"A deliberately minimalist visual aesthetic allowed to highlight the very architecture of Hala Stulecia’s dome and re-affirm its place at the core of the piece. Minimalism also appeared to be the most appropriate means of conveying this idea of future at different periods of time (from 20’s/30’s anticipation film to more contemporary productions ). But the use of these references was not simply formal: the vision of futuristic totalitarian societies seemed to echo back real moments in the history of the building, warning us against the dangers of an idealized vision of the future.

Inspiration for the music composed by Thomas for this project was found in both orchestral work, echoing the colossal size of the architecture, and electronic textures, evoking the action of time. The score also tried and recreate a sense of evolution of the materials used for the dome structure, and their sonic aging."

By using references such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis or the utopian projects of Archigram to confront the different visions of the future at different times, we were interested in trying to create a vision of a future with no precise time reference. A timeless future."

> A project directed by Romain Tardy & Thomas Vaquié. Architecture by Max Berg (1913). Visuals by Romain Tardy, Guillaume Cottet. Music composed by Thomas Vaquié. 2D / 3D mapping by Joanie Lemercier, Romain Tardy. Management & production by Nicolas Boritch. Videos filmed by Jerome Monnot, Joanie Lemercier, Romain Tardy and edited by Jerome Monnot. AntiVJ

Making of

Measure by Fabrice Le Nezet

Fabrice Le Nezet made a great sculptural project called Measure, consisting in three different pieces which abstract iron structures are connected with blocks of concrete provoking some tension as Fabrice says; "I worked here on a physical representation of the idea of measure. The objective was to 'materialize' tension in a sense, to make the notions of weight, distance and angle palpable."
Their design is really beautiful but I also love the fact that these sculptures are "materializing" that tension although don't be real sculptures. This amazing and realistic skill on the 3D software has reminded me of the impressive 3D based architectonic environments created by Alex Roman who also uses  raw material textures and light which seems just real. See more;

"This work lies in the context of my search for purification around raw materials such as concrete and metal. This is why I played with simple shapes which catch light and transcend the volume structure." - Fabrice Le Nezet.

via | minimal exposition