Reconfigurable Flexibility In Pneumatic Architecture - "The Worlds Most Flexible Inflatable"
Mentor 1
Whitney Moon
Location
Union 280
Start Date
28-4-2017 12:40 PM
Description
This past fall I decided to sign up for an architecture seminar called Pillow Talk: "Blow Up!," instructed by Professor Whitney Moon. The project our class is currently working is a temporary inflatable installation in the outdoor garden space of The Open, a new gallery located in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee. Our design is a low-pressure pneumatic enclosure that can be connected to a heat source, making it habitable (i.e., thermally comfortable) during the winter months for a variety of events and uses. Initially, we intended for the pneumatic installation to be DIY (do-it-yourself), but given that we had designed the air-filled enclosure to be installed around an existing outdoor pizza oven, it became essential for us to work with a flame-retardant material. As a result, we contacted a fabricator located in the Midwest (Landmark Creations, located in Minneapolis, Minn.), who specializes in pneumatics. Having raised the requisite funds to construct it, we will have Landmark Creations fabricate the structure in January, so that it can be installed at a local art gallery in February. As a result of creating this partnership with the fabrication company, I have become very interested in exploring and researching the malleability, mobility, controllability, flexibility, and interconnectivity of pneumatics. This past fall, my explorations in modeling pneumatics began with clay studies. I noticed how malleable and flexible the clay became as I rolled it like dough, creating noodle-like shapes. It made me start thinking about how flexible an inflatable can become - where it can start connecting, snapping or folding onto itself creating multiple spaces/shapes while using different materials (fabrics/skins). Also, I am exploringhow flexibleair becomes once it is contained inside these different tube skins, while keeping in mind affordability and maximizing mobility. The question I want to answer through this research (SURF, spring 2017) is how using the uncomplicated shape of an air-filled tube ("noodle") can perform and create infinite spatial complexity. This is why we have titled our proposed SURF research project "The World's Most Flexible Inflatable."
Reconfigurable Flexibility In Pneumatic Architecture - "The Worlds Most Flexible Inflatable"
Union 280
This past fall I decided to sign up for an architecture seminar called Pillow Talk: "Blow Up!," instructed by Professor Whitney Moon. The project our class is currently working is a temporary inflatable installation in the outdoor garden space of The Open, a new gallery located in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee. Our design is a low-pressure pneumatic enclosure that can be connected to a heat source, making it habitable (i.e., thermally comfortable) during the winter months for a variety of events and uses. Initially, we intended for the pneumatic installation to be DIY (do-it-yourself), but given that we had designed the air-filled enclosure to be installed around an existing outdoor pizza oven, it became essential for us to work with a flame-retardant material. As a result, we contacted a fabricator located in the Midwest (Landmark Creations, located in Minneapolis, Minn.), who specializes in pneumatics. Having raised the requisite funds to construct it, we will have Landmark Creations fabricate the structure in January, so that it can be installed at a local art gallery in February. As a result of creating this partnership with the fabrication company, I have become very interested in exploring and researching the malleability, mobility, controllability, flexibility, and interconnectivity of pneumatics. This past fall, my explorations in modeling pneumatics began with clay studies. I noticed how malleable and flexible the clay became as I rolled it like dough, creating noodle-like shapes. It made me start thinking about how flexible an inflatable can become - where it can start connecting, snapping or folding onto itself creating multiple spaces/shapes while using different materials (fabrics/skins). Also, I am exploringhow flexibleair becomes once it is contained inside these different tube skins, while keeping in mind affordability and maximizing mobility. The question I want to answer through this research (SURF, spring 2017) is how using the uncomplicated shape of an air-filled tube ("noodle") can perform and create infinite spatial complexity. This is why we have titled our proposed SURF research project "The World's Most Flexible Inflatable."
