WEAVING PROJECT

The Weaving Pavillion is now completed at The Village, downtown Beijing, where it will be the main centre for the NOTCH 10 Art and Culture festival. It is the first weaved structure (no glue, screws or nails) to function as facade, roof, column and foundation.

This pavilion wishes to explore the potential of weaving as an alternative method of construction in architecture. While traditional building methods of construction are based on stapling (bricks), casting (concrete) and welding elements (space frames and trusses), weaving offers structural stability without glue, nails or any sort of binding material; the weaving itself and friction is the binding solution. 

Made of bamboo or plywood, the pavilion is 100 % recyclable, permitting to unweave and re-use all of its components again. This structure is the result of a two year research project which started by traveling to Japan to learn weaving techniques form the most prominent contemporary weavers.

A two year test and modeling process developed at the studio, which resulted in the built pavilion now standing in Beijing, at the downtown The Village plaza.

photos by Max Gerthel

BAMBOO PAVILION

Bamboo has been used as a building material for centuries, however traditional methods of construction with bamboo are generally convoluted, and do not take advantage of the inherent structural qualities of the material.

A single culm of madake bamboo can support approximately 1.2 tones of vertical load once fully grown. A bamboo shoot in the right climatic conditions can reach full height of 15 meters in just 30 days. Once bamboo is cut it becomes susceptible to moisture and pests. The biggest challenge in traditional bamboo construction is how to connect the poles to the footings. Nature has already solved this problem with a root system to anchor the plant to the ground.

This investigation tries using the structural possibilities of bamboo whilst it is living. The plant is allowed to grow through a grid floor and roof structure initially held in place with scaffolding. Metal plates are inserted into this grid structure where bamboo ‘columns’ are desired. As the plant matures and increases in girth it grows into the steel ring forming the structural connection to the floor and roof plates.

The project is presently being tested at the Beppu Bamboo Research Center, Japan.

SYMBIOTIC DEVICE

The device exemplifies the role of the parasite in a commensalist relationship with the host as it explores the spatial relationship between body and machine. Maintained alive by the breathing rhythm of the host (body), the device reacts to this rhythm by elevating its shell and by moving on the ground. If the rhythm pattern is stopped, the device enters in alarm mode and stops moving, while still lighting up. If the breathing is not restored, the device unplugs itself and shuts itself off, literally "dying". At this point in time, the host is blindfolded by the headset, therefore missing the positive feedback that a host receives from it's parasite in a commensalist relationship. Once this state is reached, there is no possible way that restoring breathing, can bring "life" back to the device.