An installation project by 24° Studio will be exhibited at Kobe Biennale 2011 from October 1 through November 23. The project was one of the winners for Shitsurai Art International Competition organized by the city of Kobe. This multi-use
environmental installation serves as a meeting place where every area
can be used as seating for visitors to contemplate the surroundings,
thus invoking a social interaction.
The design motive was influenced by the history of the Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 that led to inevitable changes within
built environment sparring only the nature that surrounds Kobe. This
devastating experience is remembered by Kobe residents making them a
persistent and tight community, but remaining open and friendly to the
visitors of the city. Strong social ties between people helped them to
overcome the disaster and rebuilt the city making it a better living
environment. However in the everyday life without problems and crisis,
the face to face social interaction between people is decimating and it
is one of the biggest problems in our technology driven time.
Crater Lake, an installation – environment where people have a place
to meet to observe the beauty of the surrounding environment and more
importantly to call forth an emphasis on sustaining social interaction,
which was the important catalyst that brought Kobe residents to
revitalize their city after the disaster. The installation is situated
in the man-made Port Island, Shiosai Park that provides a vast view of
the Kobe urban center, its surrounding mountainscape and seascape.
Design intent of Crater Lake installation is to take this unique location into advantage; by creating an undulating wooden landscape that provides a variation of open and unconstrained settings with 360° viewing vista. Every
surface may be utilized as seating and lying down surface. Additional
seating stools are set in the middle of the space that can be
reorganized according to the user’s preferences. The gentle hill
surfaces invites people of multiple generations by providing spatial
conditions that allow to interact with the landscape space like a
playground device, relax in the shade of the mount, and socialize by
seating in preferred order.
Multiple ideas and materials were tested to realize the complexity of
smooth and undulating form. Wood was chosen for its strong structural
capacity, ease of work with, and natural qualities. One of the main
issues was to express continuous and smooth surface without using costly
techniques of wood steaming, bending or digital fabrication. The
solution was to divide the circular surface into a number of radial
parts, with optimal number of 20 parts. Factors that determined this
optimal number were, overall surface expression, production schedule,
and transportation method (vehicle bedsize). These 20 radial parts were
preassembled off the site and transported by a vehicle to the main site
of Shiosai Park.
Standard wood and off-the-shelf hardware were used in construction to
avoid any costly customized fabrication process. 2×4 studs were used
for all structural members and 30×60 mm treated cedar wood was used for
the surface. The structure of radial parts consists of series of
free-form ribs composed in segmentations with horizontal support and
cross bracing for rigidity. Each radial segment has 64 surface planks
that are attached to three structural ribs that are rigidly connected
between each other with horizontal supports. The surfaces with the most
anticipated traffic flow have narrow spacing between each plank. And as
the mount becomes higher, the spacing distance of surface planks
increases, allowing users to climb the mount. The rising mount resulted
from understanding the site and seasonal conditions, functioning as a
sun shading and wind protection from the bay winds when sitting at inner
area.
Источник: http://www.evolo.us/architecture/crater-lake-is-a-parametric-designed-wooden-pavilion-in-kobe-24%C2%B0-studio/ |