Windshape was an
ephemeral structure commissioned by the SavannahCollege of Art
& Design (SCAD) as a venue and gathering space near their Provence campus in Lacoste, France. Built by nARCHITECTS and a team of SCAD students
over a period of five weeks, Windshape
became the small town?s main public meeting space, and hosted concerts,
exhibitions, and ceremonies throughout the summer of 2006.
Windshape was conceived as two eight-meter-high pavilions that
dynamically changed with the Provenle wind. A vine-like structural network of white
plastic pipes, joined together and stretched apart by aluminum collars, emerged
from the limestone walls and terraces of Lacoste?s hillside. Fifty kilometers of white polypropylene string
was threaded through the lattice to create swaying enclosures. The string was woven into dense regions and
surfaces and pinched to define doorways, windows, and spaces for seating.
By varying the degree of tension in the
string, nARCHITECTS built Windshape
to respond to the wind in several ways, from rhythmic oscillations to fast
ripples across its surfaces. During
heavy winds, Windshape moved
dramatically, and made a hissing sound akin to dozens of jumpropes. The pavilions took on a multitude of temporary
forms over the course of the summer, as they billowed in and out, and
momentarily came to rest. In this way,
the local winds and the Mistral gave shape to constantly mutating structures.
The pavilions were illuminated at night against the backdrop of the Marquis de
Sade?s castle, and were visible from as far away as the village of Bonnieux, 5 kilometers away.
The pavilions? design reflects a desire to
remix the hard and soft landscapes of Provence in an innovative tectonic system. The village of Lacoste appears hewn out of limestone, its streets and network of
terraces seemingly chiseled out as voids in the hillside. In contrast, the surrounding fields,
vineyards, and lavender bushes form a luminous, soft, and changeable
landscape. Windshape refers in its exterior form and angular geometry to the
medieval townscape, while echoing the mutating, softer agricultural landscape
in its internal experience and dynamic qualities.
Windshape
was a laboratory that allowed us to test the idea of a building that can
respond to natural stimuli. Rather than
simply sheltering us from the elements, buildings of the future could connect
inhabitants to their environment, reminding them of its strength and beauty.
Windshape was constructed by nARCHITECTS
and a team of SCAD students over a period of five weeks. The architects developed a construction
sequence that optimized the use of measured and non-measured fabrication
methods. The basic components of string,
plastic pipes and aluminum collars were all digitally modeled and translated
into a set of 2D drawings and data. To
achieve the project?s complex, interwoven geometries, the pavilions were built
as a series of stacked and staggered ?tripods?.
Comprised of groups of three pipes inserted into an aluminum collar, the
tripods were pre-assembled, woven with string on the ground, and hoisted in place. Interstitial string surfaces were then woven
in between the tripods in the air.
nARCHITECTS
exploited the different properties of two weak and supple materials to create a
strong yet elastic structural network.
Similar to an archer?s bow, the pipes were placed in bending and the
string in tension to achieve structural integrity as well as a desired range of
movement in the wind. The interdependent
structural system of string, pipes and collars required a flexible fabrication
method. An initial stitching of string
through the pipes allowed for improvisation in weaving strategies to provide
enclosure, openings or stability. In
this way, Windshape?s indeterminate
structure relied equally on precise translations from digital models as well as
in-situ building tactics.