PROJECTS: Self-Ventilating
By using solar energy, a thermobimetal system can be smartly designed to block the sun. This strategy is especially useful when trying to prevent solar heat gain and glare to enter a building, while using no energy and needing no controls.
Blink
Summer 2013 (Concept)
Proposed for the New Sculptural Architecture Exhibition, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
Project Description
Because tampering with MoCA gallery’s temperature was not allowable, Blink used the kinetic properties of thermobimetal during the fabrication phase. Thick thermobimetal is difficult to bend by hand, but when heated to about 250-300˚F, the metal curls easily and can be positioned without the use of tools. When cooled, the system becomes a very strong, pre-tensioned surface. The proposed rocking pavilion utilizes this surface as an exoskeleton, eliminating cumbersome beams and other primiary structure. It also can be fabricated using one-hand/one-person with no equipment besides a heating device. To demonstrate the strength of this surface, the lightweight characteristics and the adaptability of the system, the proposed rolling pavillion takes on a dynamic, double-curved shape. It is designed to manually roll to allow varying degrees of closure for interior social activity. The seating stucture on the inteior has a dual purpose: to provide a semi-private place to congregate and to perform as a track to guide the rolling shell.
Credits and Information
MATERIALS: Thermobimetal, aluminum, canvas
PROJECT TEAM: Doris Sung, Elizabeth Phillips, Evan Shieh, Jessica Chang and Dennis Chow
CONSULTING ENGINEER: Knippers/Helbig Structural Engineers, New York/Stuttgart, Germany
FUNDING: MOCA
Supported by the Getty Foundations Pacific Standard Time Initiative, fifteen architects were shortlisted for interview and to submit design proposals. Three were selected to build (Elena Manferdini, Tom Wiscombe, Marcelo Spina). All projects were published in the exhibition catalog called The New Structuralism: Contemporary Architecture from Southern California by Christopher Mount. Thirty-eight leading and emerging architects were included in the show and catalog.
The MOCA downtown Los Angeles location is home to almost 5,000 artworks created since 1940, including masterpieces by classic contemporary artists, and inspiring new works by emerging and mid-career artists from Southern California and around the world. The MOCA is the only museum in Los Angeles devoted exclusively to contemporary art. While the Grand Avenue facility was being planned and under construction, MOCA opened an interim exhibition space called the “Temporary Contemporary” in the fall of 1983. Due to the popularity of the Temporary Contemporary and extraordinary suitability of the building for exhibiting contemporary art, the museum’s board requested that the City of Los Angeles extend MOCA’s lease on the facility for 50 years, until 2038.