A playful dialogue between lightness and boldness characterizes Pleated Inflation, the permanent informal amphitheater by MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY in Argeles-Sur-Mer, France. Bringing together structural performance and spatial experience, the permanent installation immerses students of Lycée Christian Bourquin in ornate shadows cast from porous structural pleats. The permanent installation was commissioned by Region Languedoc Roussillon, as part of the French 1% Artistique program. 

// STRUCTURE // Pleated Inflation adds to the ‘structural shingle’ project family of MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY, the studio’s unique body of research into lightweight, self-supporting systems that unify skin, structure, ornamentation and spatial experience. The structure is made up of 990 shingles, each overlapping their neighbor to form tangential continuity and rigidity.

// FORM // The design was developed through custom computational protocols of structural form-finding, descriptive geometry, and stress flow-driven porosity. A 2D network of lines as a footprint inflates and expands in the air, resulting in a voluminous space created with minimal lightweight material. 

 // BITS & PARTS // Once inflated, the design is tessellated through a process of agent-based porosity, articulating a continuous 'pleated' surface of 990 intricate aluminum shingles; each pleat lends structural depth, thinning the required profile of each panel. The skin meets the ground on 26 base plates. Following digital fabrication, the parts were installed over the course of ten days by a team of four.

Location: Lycée Christian Bourquin, Argeles-Sur-Mer, France
Media: 3mm Aluminum, thermolaquage
Dimensions: 21’ H x 46’ W x 33' D
Commissioned by: Region Languedoc Roussillon