The Brick Reinvented
At first sight, the
BlobWall© Pavilion looks like it has anything but a reliable wall system. If anything, it appears to be a big, cushiony cloud of pink cotton candy that you just want to bounce off. And yet the
BlobWall©, which is a collaborative effort of the architecture studio
Greg Lynn FORM;
Machineous, who worked out the manufacturing method for the blob units; and
PANELITE, who produce and distribute the material, is a freestanding wall structure that is built from a low-density, recyclable, impact-resistant polymer.
The wall system is definitely as contemporary as it is playful, and even sensual, reminiscent of the times when facades of buildings could not be ostentatious enough. Paying homage to the good old brick as the most basic building material, the differently shaped blob units, whose concave and convex surfaces interlink to create an organic, eye-catching and light-weight structure, could probably not visually be further away from the aforementioned “original”.
With renewable plastics becoming increasingly prominent in contemporary design and new molding techniques at hand that guarantee even the most unusual shapes, the material choice for the
BlobWall© makes sense not only from a technical, but also ecological point of view. The blobs are robotically cut, mass-produced, and shaped through rotational molding. The practicality of the pink version of the
BlobWall© that was shown at the Sci-Arc gallery in Los Angeles remains to be seen, but with six color schemes to choose from and optional color combinations, there is no want of variation.
In a more general sense, the idea from which the blobs were generated is indicative of an evident trend in the realm of architecture at large. The concept of what architecture entails has moved far beyond the traditional “building” and clear functionality to a more conceptual creation of space and environment.
In September, the
BlobWall© Pavilion will be shown at the Venice Biennale as part of the 11th International Architecture Exhibition.
Link:
www.glform.com/blobwall.htmlwww.panelite.uswww.machineous.com
