Apertures

source: archinect

Baumgartner+Uriu looked to none other than Mother Nature for their Apertures installation, which was publicly displayed at the SCI-Arc Gallery in Los Angeles this past spring. If B+U’s Apertures sound familiar, perhaps you may recall their “Animated Apertures” Housing Tower that was exhibited at the FRAC Center in Orleans, France.

Whatever its organic form reminds you of, the shell structure let visitors catch a glimpse of B+U’s ongoing exploration in architectural biomimicry and how it challenges the boundaries of ecological design.

Read on for more project details from B+U:

“Apertures reflect a current architectural discourse of digital ecologies, emphasizing the relationship between the natural world and advances in digital technology, which leads to a new type of interactive, organic buildings. The installation focuses on a symbiotic relationship between nature, building morphologies, and material expression.”

“Rooted in Baumgartner+Uriu’s work and ongoing research, Apertures challenges the notion of an architectural opening as a static object. Moreover, it aims to redefine the DNA of a window both in terms of its appearance and materiality, as well as its nature as an object in continuous flux, responding to its environment through movement or sound.”

“The pavilion and its apertures are designed to physically engage the visitor with the architectural work through sensors and sound feedback loops creating an immersive spatial environment in which the visitor can experience their own biorhythms.

The 16‐foot‐tall, thin shell structure was designed to solely rely on its extremely thin surface (1/8”) as support, requiring no additional structural elements. Structure and surface are collapsed into a single component supported through its shape, creased surfaces and material strength only.”

“Each one of the 233 panels is unique in terms of its shape. They are CNC milled from polyurethane foam, heat formed out of thermoplastic polymer resin, and then laminated together into a single object.”
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source: archinect

Baumgartner+Uriu looked to none other than Mother Nature for their Apertures installation, which was publicly displayed at the SCI-Arc Gallery in Los Angeles this past spring. If B+U’s Apertures sound familiar, perhaps you may recall their “Animated Apertures” Housing Tower that was exhibited at the FRAC Center in Orleans, France.

Whatever its organic form reminds you of, the shell structure let visitors catch a glimpse of B+U’s ongoing exploration in architectural biomimicry and how it challenges the boundaries of ecological design.