Brisbane Domestic Terminal Car Park Façade

Urban Art Projects (UAP) is collaborating with established American artist Ned Kahn and the Brisbane Airport Corporation to create an eight-storey, 5000sqm kinetic façade for the car park of Brisbane’s Domestic Terminal.

Viewed from the exterior, one side of the car park will appear to ripple fluidly as the wind activates 250,000 suspended aluminium panels. As it responds to the ever-changing patterns of the wind, the façade will create a direct interface between the built and natural environments. It is further embellished with rippling lines from the surface of the Brisbane River: a site-specific reference to the city’s most iconic natural feature.

Inside the car park, intricate patterns of light and shadow will be projected onto the walls and floor as sunlight passes through the kinetic façade. The design also provides practical environmental benefits such as shade and natural ventilation for the interior.

Urban Art Projects is a menagerie of artistic and technical talents. Led by Principals Matthew and Daniel Tobin, UAP is comprised of designers, artists, draftsmen, metal workers and project managers. Together, we conspire with artists and clients alike to realize site-specific artworks.

Urban Art Projects is a specialist consultant committed to the delivery of large-scale, high quality art and design works amid a wide range of architectural and landscape projects.

Established in 1993 as an art-based design and construct organisation, Urban Art Projects has established a strong industry reputation for the delivery of high quality outcomes in the area of public art.

Urban Art Projects is both a design studio and workshop. We design and/or build the majority of artworks we curate. Thus, we ensure that the creative intent of each piece is realised, and each project delivered on time and to budget.

Urban Art Projects employs over 70 full-time personnel within our Strategy, Design, Project Management, Fabrication and Administration departments. Our head offices and foundry are located in Brisbane, Australia, with offices in Los Angeles, Houston and Shanghai.

Brisbane Domestic Terminal Car Park Façade, image courtesy Urban Art Projects (UAP)

Brisbane Domestic Terminal Car Park Façade, image courtesy Urban Art Projects (UAP)

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OMS Stage / 5468796 Architecture

© 5468796 Architecture

Architects: 5468796 Architecture Inc.
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Structural: Lavergne Draward & Associates
Lighting Design: Ambiances Lighting + Visual Design
Project Manager: Mark Penner
Metal Fabricator: Melvin Kleinsasser
Project area: 784 sq. ft.
Project year: 2010
Photographs: 5468796 Architecture Inc.

© 5468796 Architecture

“The Cube” is an open-air performance venue set against the backdrop of historic warehouses in Winnipeg’s Exchange District. The design commission gained through an invited competition, recognizes that the stage typically functions as such during a very limited time season, and questioned what opportunities the venue could provide during the rest of the year. In its final rendition the stage is articulated as a multi-functional environment that shifts from a vibrant performance space to an ephemeral, glowing,interactive pavilion and focal point.

© 5468796 Architecture

The outer shell of the stage is a dynamic membrane composed of diamond extrusions strung together to form a flexible curtain that draws back to reveal stage and structure within. The retracted skin in turn becomes a draped and undulating ceiling landscape providing a backdrop for performance and allowing adjustments to the stage’s acoustics. When closed, the angled diamond pieces capture and refract light or images to their outer surface, creating a unique pixel matrix. Programmable lighting shines onto the pixelated skin offering a canvas for interactive displays – seasonally programmed and available for active engagements by local artists. The Stage in its closed position also accommodates small gatherings and exhibitions inside.

© 5468796 Architecture

Innovation

An important objective for the project was to provide a secure screen which could be opened and shut for various programming. The challenge was to create a unique meshwork, that would be “soft” enough to drape open, and rigid enough to provide a solid barrier. Early prototypes were developed that examined chain-mail as a precedent – a flexible protective membrane that could form the venue’s envelope.

A second key goal was to explore the capacity for the membrane to capture images projected upon its surface. Technical constraints were imposed by the distance from the screen to the back wall of the stage (where the projector would be housed), and the fact that images would hit the back screen face, but would be observed when looking towards the stage. We examined the size and number of elements necessary to effectively capture the projected images. Research was done that determined which “short throw” projector would be required to expand the image within the short projection distance available to us. In addition we explored, through prototypes, the depth of the cells, their ability to flip the projection, maintain resolution, and image integrity.

roof plan

Working with a local manufacturer we commissioned samples of various extrusions, initially made from flat aluminum pieces welded together. Once a suitable prototype was selected, the manufacturer ordered custom aluminum extrusions from which individual pieces could be cut. The scale of the project merited the purchase of a self feeding saw, which steam-lined manufacturing of the 18,000 metal pieces. In addition, a polishing drum rolled each piece to grind down and finish the edge surfaces.

Individual extrusions were strung together through pre-cut holes using aircraft cable to hold cells in place. The orientation of each piece alternates up and down vertically along the line of the cable, with adjacent rows of cells being riveted together at every third piece. The membrane is thereby able to cascade gently, while maintaining continuous surface integrity. Pre-strung panels of screen were erected on site before being riveted together to form a continuous assembly.

© 5468796 Architecture

© 5468796 Architecture

In its final installation, the screen is able to hang vertically, sealing off the 28’ x 28’ cube. When lifted, the screen folds back in a gentle curve revealing the performance space below, and forming an acoustical backdrop. When closed, the polished aluminum extrusions form a light reflecting surface, that is able to interact with floor lights and projectors to create dynamic, programmable light displays.

By questioning the year-round relevance of the stage program, the team were motivated to develop a constituent part of the program (security, screen, canopy), into a new project feature. The skin thereby transcends its role as shell and takes on a new role of emblem.

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Stunning Bulgari Resort in Bali

Oh, Bali! Do you ever fail to disappoint? Just when we thought we had exhausted seeing all your scenic hotel resources, there pops another one! Designed by Milan based architectural studio Antonio Citterio and Partners, the Bulgari Resort in Bali represents a contemporary interpretation of a synthesis of Italian design and traditional Balinese style. Location too is a prime selling point here. Perched on a 150m high cliff, the resort offers stunning views of the Indian Ocean to all its 59 villas. Scroll for images…

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Adam Cornish’s Wooden Hammock

Among the scant few hammocks whose luxuriating lines we’ve virtually encountered here on 3rings—Royal Botania’s Kokoon, Victor Aleman’s Mua, and Dedon’s Nestrest—fabric seems to hold sway as the material of choice. Hardly surprising that, given its lineage as constituting the very essence of the concept, which I might crudely summarize as “something soft and pliable hung between two trees.” In light of this common knowledge, the daring design by Australian Adam Cornish is all the more surprising. His “Wooden Hammock,” winner of the recent Herman Miller design competition, is constructed entirely of plantation-grown plywood, except of course for its supportive cords, the suspension apparatus that establishes its “hammock-ness.”

Wooden Hammock. Deigned by Adam Cornish.

An Ergonomics of Human Movement

One commentator is on record as saying she likes the piece because it “looks like a human spine.” That attribute is certainly cause for affection, since we’ve no choice but to love the very makings of our interior physiology. But what might the comparison say about the Wooden Hammock’s functionality? Plenty, as it were, since the individual junctions between segments of laminated plywood and rubber bumpers facilitate motion in much the same way as our vertebra and discs. The assembly allows a flexion-extension/lateral rotation movement to occur, that, very like our own backbones, helps one to find the most comfortable position for a given set of constraints.

In day to day life, these constraints run the gamut from sitting at your desk, to bending down to pick up your kids, to getting in and out of your car. With the Wooden Hammock, however, the constraint is of a more modest variety, narrowed, in fact, to the enviable pastime of lying down. Even so, the piece expands the repertoire of this essential human activity—beyond the bed, beyond the sofa, beyond the traditional stretch of fabric that constitutes the traditional hammock. What’s more, the Wooden Hammock conveys a striking new aesthetic that blends placidity with panache, thus lending a bold, if Buddhist, addition to your backyard landscape.Best of interior and architecture