Майклом Янтценом
예술가 마이클 얀첸

source: michaeljantzen

My work is very well known around the world. It has been featured in thousands of articles in books, magazines, newspapers, and on the Web. My work has been shown in many galleries, and on various TV documentaries. It has also been exhibited at the National Building Museum, the Canadian Center for Architecture, the Harvard School of Design and Architecture, and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

I WANT TO REINVENT THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT IN ORDER TO EXTEND THE REACH OF CONSCIOUSNESS.

Most of my work merges art, architecture, technology, engineering, and sustainable design into one unique experience. My work has always evolved through extreme innovation as I strive to expose new thinking, primarily through the re-invention of the built environment.
I do not consider myself an architect, but rather an artist and inventor who often uses architecture as an art form. The artifacts that evolve from my work are not as important as their broader implications. One of my primary interests, as a conceptual designer, is to explore ways in which the physical built environment can be augmented, and in some cases replaced by information technologies, such as virtual reality. Other work explores ways in which the physical built environment can be easily changed, in time, relative to changing needs. Some of these designs suggest ways in which large structures can be physically altered in real time through an interactive Internet interface.
Most of my work investigates ways to integrate alternative energy gathering and storage systems into the built environment, so they can be powered partly or entirely independent of the conventional utility grid. In every case, the esthetics that evolve from all of my work comes from the invention of new ways in which these designs function.
One of my conceptual designs with the most far-reaching implications for an interface between the physical built environment, and the virtual environment, is the Virtual Reality Veneer. In this proposal, large portions of the physical environment are replaced with virtual environments as seen through special glasses.
In the Malibu Video Beach House, the facade of the house is replaced with real-time images of the surroundings displayed on video screens, making the house appear to disappear. In the Elements project, an entire theme park is made of large interactive video architecture.
The M-house is a good example of physical structures that can be changed in time relative to changing needs. Here, a kit of parts was invented that could be assembled and/or disassemble in hundreds of ways to form many different sizes and shaped to accommodate many different functions. Once these parts are assembled into the desired form, some of the components can be easily moved to change the shape of the house in order to respond to changes in the weather, and/or to just have fun.
In other projects like the Transformation House, the entire structure is made up of a series of segments that can be rotated around a stationary center core in order to catch the best views, the sun, the wind, and/or the rain. Another design that explores the potential of kinetic architecture is the Wind Shaped Pavilion. This large fabric structure is also made of a series of segments that rotate around a center stationary core. Only in this case, the wind randomly rotates the segments around the core in a random way so that the structure never looks the same.
Another conceptual design that explores the potentials of an interactive architecture is the Web-Shaped Pavilion. In this design, a large cylindrical shaped structure is segmented with many hinged panels that can be moved up or down with small electric motors. As the panels move, they completely change the shape of the structure. The manipulation of these panels is completely controlled through the Internet by thousands of people from all over the world in real time.
Most of my work also explores ways in which alternative energy gathering and storage systems can be integrated into the built environment in an esthetically exciting way. Projects like the Eco-Wine Pavilion are powered by the wind and sun, but the use of hardware, like solar collectors and wind turbines are not hidden. Instead these elements are incorporated into the design in a way that celebrates their use, and forms a new esthetic as a result.
Other projects like the Solar Energy Field, and the Sounds of the Sun Pavilion, are designed as large public functional art pieces that generate energy from the sun and from the wind, for the communities in which they are built. Other more multi-functional designs like the Wind Tunnel Footbridge, and the Solar Wind Pavilion, generate power from the wind and from the sun for their own needs as well as for the places in which they are built, but they also function as public gathering places.
My work also explores the design of very large commercial structures like the North Slope Ski Hotel, and the Solar Winds Desert Hotel. These structures also incorporate the use of alternative energy to power themselves instead of relaying on the conventional utility grid. They also demonstrate how very luxurious accommodations can also be designed in a very earth friendly way, and at the same time, present a new and exciting esthetic that is based on their earth friendliness.
I have also spent a lot of time researching how we might build more energy efficient, eco-friendly, low cost human shelters. Much of this work has evolved around explorations into the use of off-the-shelf building components that are not normally used for human shelter, such as agricultural building systems. One example of this research is the dome house I designed and built for my parents in the early 1980s. This structure was completely made from steel grain silo roof components. It was insulated with ground up newspaper and could be heated and cooled with tiny amounts of energy. Other more recent examples are the Homestead House, and the Eco-Shell Building System. Both of these structures would be made from off the shelf steel agricultural building components normally used to store grain and/or farm equipment.
I have also spent a lot of time exploring the re-design of various products like furniture, and the re-design of the interior work environment. An example of the furniture research is the Transform Furniture where the color and texture of a table, chair, and/or other objects can easily be changed in a matter of seconds. This same invention was used to create entire interactive interior environments such as the project called, E-Scape. Other designs that looked at new kinds of work environments made from a kit of parts are the Free Space Work Place system, and the Modular Work Place system.

All of my work in one way or another in highly influenced by my early education as an artist. Even though I consider all of my work to be art in one form or another, some of it is approached as functional art, and some as non-functional art. In general, I hope that all of my work will become a catalyst for new thinking in the minds of all those who encounter it.
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source: inhabitat

Michael Jantzen’s Solar Eclipse Pavilion is a sprawling steel sculpture designed to create a shady public meeting space. But instead of serving just one function the artistic installation is capped with a 7,000 square foot array of photovoltaic solar cells!

Michael Jantzen’s Solar Eclipse Pavilion is a Public Sculpture that Doubles as a Renewable Energy Source.