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Fibers and Fabrics —
Exciting Prospectives for Architecture and Construction |
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Category No. 3: Public Space
Fabric Exhibition Concept This design is not particularly progressive in artistic or structural terms. And yet the idea of arranging and dividing up a quite simple, unassuming cubic space by means of vertically and horizontally streched membrane strips and to use them as surfaces to support exhibits of very kind has something about it that is irresistibly congent and well worth realising. This textile architecture shows an impressive potential for shaping internal and partially covered lightweight exhibition spaces. The intersection and interpenetration of the fabric strips creates the strange impression of floating on air in the voluminous interior, creating a very alluring effect. For the observer moving through these spaces, the effect of the mutifarious criss-cross patterns of the surfaces is thus enhanced and hence made more eventful and attractive. So, this project could express movement in light-and-air flows, combined with elegance and simplicity.
Wiebke Mohr Analog 03 This design is not of a building, but a symbolic work of art in the public arena of a busy cross-roads. The idea is to use simple membrane elements stretched between the buildings at the edges of the road to deliver a message to road-users and to make it clear, especially to car-drivers what effects their behaviour can have on the environment and consequently on them themselves. The jury considered this endeavour worthy both of praise and recognition. It is an elegant minimal art proposal expressing the dilemma of pollution in the urban situation. The material and colour would react to the pollution level indicating the situation to the public. The lightness of the strips of fabric and the almost invisible way in which they are suspended or supported is a stark contrast to the normal rigidity and immense immobility of urban situations. In this way it acquires expressive force and significance. To this extent we can also view this artefact as a meaningful contribution to an enhancement of neglected public spaces.
Frank Block Textile Tunnel This is an interesting lightweight solution for improving pedestrian subways. Everybody is familiar with the feeling of insecurity and anxiety when they have to walk through a dark, dirty pedestrian subway in town. Wouldn't it be a pleasant and welcome improvement to the tunnel situation to line a tunnel of this sort with a light, perhaps coloured membrane with back lighting and with paintings or projections of advertising motifs. This appealed to the jury. The system can be prefabricated, in small-scale repetitive elements, quickly and economically, and retrofitted in almost any tunnel. Of course the problem of vandalism is difficult or even impossible to solve, but perhaps should be taken into account. In any case, a welcome idea that deserves to be tested and
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