highlike

Philip Beesley

菲力浦 畢斯雷
epiphyte chamber

Philip Beesley

source: highlike

Work: Epiphyte Chamber is envisioned as an archipelago of interconnected halo-like masses that mimic human sensations through subtle, coordinated movements. The work is conceived as an ‘epiphyte’, an aerial plant species that can grow without the support of soil. Across each floating island, densely inter woven structures and delicate canopies intersect. The hovering textile-like fabric that frames this floating sculpture is lined with masses of fluid-filled vessels and glands that contain simple metabolisms with chemicals moving through slow reactions. Interlinking clouds of biomimetic components are drawn together in waves of breathing and whispers. Audiences walk into highly intimate sculptural spaces that support small clusters of activity interlinking into larger gathering areas. The resulting environment acts as a primitive social architecture, offering viewers an exploration of personal environments. Epiphyte Chamber was presented at the inauguration of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Korea (2013-2014).
Photographer: Philip Beesley
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source: designboom

Envisioned as an archipelago of interconnected halo-like masses, the ‘epiphyte chamber’ by canadian studio PBAI philip beesley architect inc. mimics human sensations through subtle, coordinated movements. conceived as an ‘epiphyte’, an aerial plant species that can grow without the support of soil, the immersive sculpture explores artificial intelligence, digital fabrication and interactive technologies to create a near-living environment. across each floating island, densely interwoven structures and delicate canopies made of thousands of lightweight components are drawn together in harmonious breathing and whispers. hovering fabric helps to frame the suspended pieces, lined with bulging, fluid-filled vessels and glands. the faunal groups contain metabolisms with chemicals, which move in response to slow reactions. walking into the womb-like space, small clusters of activity are interlinked with larger gathering areas. the interactive system includes embedded machine intelligence that invites human interaction to trigger breathing, caressing, and swallowing motions. the ‘epiphyte chamber’ is part of the inaugural aleph exhibition at the museum of modern and contemporary art in seoul, korea. the work is currently on display through march 16, 2014.
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source: philipbeesleyarchitect

Philip Beesley is a professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo. A practitioner of architecture and digital media art, he was educated in visual art at Queen’s University, in technology at Humber College, and in architecture at the University of Toronto. At Waterloo he serves as Director for the Integrated Group for Visualization, Design and Manufacturing, and as Director for Riverside Architectural Press. He also holds the position of Examiner at University College London. His Toronto-based practice PBAI is an interdisciplinary design firm that combines public buildings with exhibition design, stage and lighting projects. The studio’s methods incorporate industrial design, digital prototyping, and mechatronics engineering. Philip Beesley’s work is widely cited in the rapidly expanding technology of responsive architecture. He has authored and edited eight books and appeared on the cover of Artificial Life (MIT), LEONARDO and AD journals. Features include national CBC news, Casa Vogue, WIRED, and a series of TED talks. His work was selected to represent Canada at the 2010 Venice Biennale for Architecture, and he has been recognized by the Prix de Rome in Architecture, VIDA 11.0, FEIDAD, two Governor General’s Awards and as a Katerva finalist. Beesley’s funding includes core CFI, SSHRC, NSERC and Canada Council for the Arts grants.

RESEARCH FOCUS: Responsive and distributed architectural environments and interactive systems, flexible lightweight structures integrating kinetic functions, microprocessing, sensor and actuator systems, with particular focus on digital fabrication methods and sheet-material derivations. Comprehensive architectural design and professional practice. textile structures; material crafts and fabrication; organicism and design integrated with nature; hybrid forms of nature. Emotion, romanticism and 20th century spiritualism as alternate qualities in Modernism; alterity and dissociation; chthonian and expanded definitions of space; the archaic. Current applied projects include solar-powered high-performance housing envelopes in exterior sites and architectural-scale geotextiles in museum spaces.

Philip Beesley Architect Inc. (PBAI) is an interdisciplinary design firm located in Toronto, Canada, associated with the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. The studio’s design methods combine the durable crafts of heavy machining and building with advanced digital visualization, industrial design, digital prototyping, and mechatronics engineering. Sculptural work in the past three decades has focused on immersive textile environments, landscape installations and intricate geometric structures. The most recent generations of these works feature interactive lighting systems and kinetic mechanisms that use dense arrays of microprocessors and sensors. Chemical protocell metabolisms are in the early stages of development within many of these environments. These works contemplate the ability of an environment to be near-living, to stimulate intimate evocations of compassion with viewers through artificial intelligence and mechanical empathy. The conceptual roots of this work lie in ‘hylozoism’, the ancient belief that all matter has life.

PBAI is led by experimental sculptor/architect Philip Beesley. Current collaborators include Rachel Armstrong, Philippe Baylaucq, Martin Correa, Rob Gorbet, Jon Gotfryd, Martin Hanczyc, Iris van Herpen, Mark-David Hosale, Dana Kulic, Andrea Ling, Sal Miranda, Anne Paxton, Rolf Seifert, Michael Stacey and Mingyi Zhou. Currently there are 15 artists, scientists, architects, and engineers within the collective.