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SOFTlab

New York, NY

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Ventricle

Ventricle is a two-part installation that was commissioned by the Southbank Centre in London for the Festival of Love. The installations recall the heart, a symbol that has been used for many centuries and in many cultures to represent love. Along with the chambers of the heart, the installations are a modern interpretation of the hanging gardens of Babylon, a place of many cultures and languages, and also of Eden, a place of free knowledge and expression.

The pair of structure are gravity formed and  hang in the double height spaces on either side of the Royal Festival Hal. Each lightweight aluminum structure is made of intertwined tubes and clad in 3M's Solar Mirror Film. The film is typically applied to photo-voltaic panels to increase the sunlight they receive. In this case we are taking advantage of the sunlight coming through the adjacent glass walls to use the film's ability to refract and cast light. The net like hanging structures refract the light casting a woven landscape of color into the interior of the Southbank Center. Through the combination of entwined geometry and light, the installations are designed to create a visual vibrancy that comes from the embrace of geometry, materials, and light. Like the weaving of the many cultures found in London and around the world the structures are a reflection on the idea that working together through love and by embracing our differences leads to unimaginably wonderful results.

The geometry for each structure is designed using form finding software to engineer the optimal hanging shape. The structure of each piece is made of thousands of uniquely laser cut aluminum pieces riveted together to form a large net. This net is clad in 3Ms solar reflective film that redirects the spectrum of light depending on the angle it passes through the surface, both amplifying and colorizing the light in different shades.

 
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Status: Built
Location: London, GB
Firm Role: Designer
Additional Credits: Photos: Alan Tansey