Archi­tects: LAVA — Chris Bosse, Tobias Wal­lis­ser and Ale­xan­der Rieck
Location: Sydney, Aus­tra­lia
Pro­ject year: 2008
Pro­ject Team: Chris Bosse, Tobias Wal­lis­ser, Ale­xan­der Rieck
Collaborators: Jarrod Lam­shed, Esan Rahmani, Kim Ngoc Ngu­yen, Anh Dao Trinh, Erik Esca­lante Men­doza, Pas­cal Tures, Mi Jin Chun, Andrea Dorici
Materials: Specially tre­a­ted high-tech Nylon and light
Area: 300 sqm
Volume: 3,000 sqm

Digi­tal Work­flow
The pro­ject renoun­ces on the appli­cation of a structure in the tra­di­ti­o­nal sense. Instead, the space is filled with a 3-dimensional lightweight-sculpture, solely based on mini­mal sur­face tension, fre­ely stret­ching between wall and cei­ling and floor.

The design and fab­ri­cation pro­cedure uses state-of-the-art digi­tal work­flow; begin­ning with 3D com­pu­ter model­ling, that is engi­nee­red structu­rally before under­go­ing a pro­cess of com­pu­ter con­t­rolled (CNC) mate­rial cut­ting and mecha­ni­cal re-seaming.

The computer-model, based on the simu­lation of com­ple­xity in natu­rally evol­ving sys­tems, feeds directly into a production-line of sail-making-software and digi­tal manufacturing.

The pro­duct shows a new way of digi­tal work­flow, ena­b­ling the gene­ration of space out of a ligh­twei­ght mate­rial that requi­res mini­mal adjust­ments onsite to achieve a com­plete installation in an extre­mely short time.

Susta­i­na­bi­lity
LAVA’s pro­cess of opti­mi­zed mini­mal sur­face design and CNC (com­pu­ter nume­ric code) fab­ri­cation tech­no­logy allows the sculp­ture to reveal a new dimension in susta­i­na­ble design practice.

Ful­fil­ling the susta­i­na­ble agenda of the venue, the work suc­ce­eds in its quest for opti­mum effi­ci­ency in mate­rial usage, con­struction wei­ght, fab­ri­cation and installation time, while at the same time achie­ving maxi­mum visual impact in the large atrium space.

The pavi­lion is easily trans­por­table to any place in the world; can be quickly installed, and is fully reusable.

Fab­ri­cation
The sculp­ture mate­ri­als con­sist of a double stretch, 2 way woven fab­ric that is mecha­ni­cally atta­ched to spe­ci­ally designed alu­mi­nium track pro­fi­les. Each pro­file is suspen­ded from above, and to the side, on 2mm sta­in­less steel cabling.

Con­cept
Since the 1970’s, with Frei Otto’s soap-bubble expe­ri­ments for the Munich Olym­pic Sta­dium, natu­rally evol­ving sys­tems have been an intri­guing area of design research; some­thing that hasn’t been lost on the team and their fas­ci­nation with new buil­ding typo­lo­gies and natu­rally deve­lo­ped structures.

The installation is a ‘Mini­mal Sur­face’ that con­sists of a tensi­o­ned Lycra mate­rial, digi­tally pat­ter­ned and custom-tailored for the space. Five sides of the sculp­ture reach out to care­fully hover just off the main inte­rior atrium of the Cus­toms House above the model of the city.

The ligh­twei­ght fab­ric design follows the natu­ral lines, con­tours and surface-tension of the fab­ric. The cur­ves can be seen as the result of invi­si­ble bubbles that are transla­ted into an orga­nic 3-dimensional space.

While appea­ring solid, the structure is soft and fle­xi­ble and cre­a­tes highly unusual spa­ces within cus­toms house, which come to life with pro­jection and lighting.

Rising up to the top level restau­rant, a ver­ti­cal distance of almost 20m, the sculp­ture pro­vi­des an intense visual con­trast to the beau­ti­fully res­to­red heri­tage inte­rior of Cus­toms House.

The Cus­toms House ‘Media Wall’ is also acti­va­ted with con­tent detai­ling the pro­cess of design, engi­nee­ring, fab­ri­cation and installation of the sculp­ture along with the impres­sive, recent design pro­jects com­ple­ted by LAVA across 12 video screens.

The whole installation is immer­sed in a sound­s­cape by sound artist David Chesworth and gra­phic design by TOKO, and inclu­des the latest 3D works by visual artist Peter Murphy.

zdroj: arch­daily