Seeds of invention

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The Seed Cathedral: A Fiber-Optic Shrine to Mother Nature's Reproductive Prowess

Thomas Heatherwick, Seed Cathedral, British Pavillion, 2010 World Expo, Shanghai

Time magazine’s annual “50 Best Inventions” of the year list includes Thomas Heatherwick’s Seed Cathedral for the Shanghai Expo. via Archinect

“A house of worship for biodiversity, the British pavilion for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai is constructed of 60,000 light-funneling fiber-optic rods, each with one or more seeds implanted at its tip. British designer Thomas Heatherwick worked with the Kew Gardens and the Millennium Seed Bank project, whose mission is to collect seeds from 25% of the world’s plant species by 2020. The result was a living structure that embodied the Expo’s theme of “Better City, Better Life” and rooted digital dreams in the soil from which all life springs. That combination helped make the Seed Cathedral one of the most popular national pavilions at the Shanghai Expo, where Chinese visitors nicknamed it pu gong ying, the dandelion.”–Time

At the opposite end of the scale, see Amy Franceschini’s Victory Garden Seed Library,  exhibited as part of Small Wonders (top center) at the 2010 01SJ Biennial.

Small Wonders, San Jose International Airport, 2010 01SJ Biennial

Small Wonders, San Jose International Airport, 2010 01SJ Biennial. Amy Franceschini (b. 1970) Victory Garden Seed Library, 2007 (top center)

I would visit this … and this

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Diller Scofidio & Renfro, A plan for the Hirshhorn calls for an inflatable structure that pokes through the buildings top and side, on the National Mall. via NYT

Diller Scofidio & Renfro, A plan for the Hirshhorn calls for an inflatable structure that pokes through the building's top and side, on the National Mall. via NYT

via NYT via Archinect.

While I’m quite fond of the Hirshhorn building, there is a great line in Nicolai Ourossoff’s NYT article, writing that Diller Scofidio & Renfro‘s addition “would transform one of the most somber buildings on the mall into a luminous pop landmark.”

Apparently,

“The architects imagine the installation process as a performance piece in itself, something like watching event organizers blow up the balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Two refrigerator-size air pumps would be used to inflate the baby-blue structure, which would fill the entire four-story courtyard and bulge out of the top. A smaller, globulelike form would swell out of the bottom of the building to create a public lounge overlooking the mall.”

Now that I can no longer legitimately take my son to the nearby merry go round, I would definitely substitute the Hirshhorn inflation on the itinerary.

Keel, merry go round on the Mall

Keel, merry go round on the Mall

And then, of course, I’d have to visit the “new” courtyard at my old stomping grounds, the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Foster & Partners courtyard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Foster & Partners courtyard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Get your REFUNC on

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REFUNC is a Netherlands-based studio.

“Garbage architecture is providing a second life for found or thrown-away objects. We operate on the borders of architecture, art and design and create new products from old materials. Origin for designs are found in the object itself, by listening to its own composition, history, or local and social context. We do not start from a design, we need a problem to play with. 3D troubleshooting and creative improvisation with the locally available. Waste materials lead the way to our often unpredictable results. Wherever you can find garbage, we do research and workshops on creative recycling.”

Lowlands Biddinghuizen Netherlands August 2009

REFUNC, CONTAINOSAURUS, Lowlands Biddinghuizen Netherlands August 2009

“We found a place in Holland where not usable windmill wings (for their intended function) were stored and felt that we needed to reuse them. Our idea to create an almost-flying dinosaur-installation in combination with containers hit the Lowlands music festival people on the right place as they are going more industrial.”

REFUNC, KULTFLUX, Vilnius Lithuania july 2008

REFUNC, KULTFLUX, Vilnius Lithuania july 2008

“[F]loating architectural installation to promote the river and its banks as active public spaces Lithuanian cultural platform KULTFLUX invited a group of international students and organized different workshops at and on the river. Intention was to draw attention and activate the river as public space including its banks and concrete promenades.”

REFUNC, PETPALACE, Hoge Woerd, Netherlands September 2008

REFUNC, PETPALACE, Hoge Woerd, Netherlands September 2008

“A public event wanted to follow the principles of “cradle to cradle” and asked us to demonstrate the potential of re-using old plastic water bottles.”

REFUNC, LOWLANDS RETANK 14, biddinghuizen netherlands, august 2008

REFUNC, LOWLANDS RETANK 14, biddinghuizen netherlands, august 2008

“[U]rban scale light installation for music festival lowlands from re-used watertanksanother year another chance. We decided to use the 240 water tanks from our last year’s installation in a completely different way.”

REFUNC, AFRIKA BURNS, karoo desert south africa. november 2007

REFUNC, AFRIKA BURNS, karoo desert south africa. november 2007

“Installation camp based on interaction with the direct context at the burning man regional festival in the desert. materialsUsed car tires from nearest tire shops, transport. Left-over materials from other installations as wood, plastic.”

“A new approach to urbanity”

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Snuggles

Snuggle - das mobile Hotel

raumlaborberlin has a solution for temporary festival housing.

“Snuggles was
designed by Berlin-based Raumlabor, which says that it is not an architecture firm, but rather an interdisciplinary team interested in urbanism, and the study of public and private space. The modular system was intended for use as comfortable, safe housing for travelers to festivals, workshops, or other artistic events. Each unit features a three-sided pod with a window and tunnel access to a central pod with sanitary facilities.”

via Inhabitat

According to their website, raumlaborberlin began working on the issues of contemporary architecture and urbanism in 1999m, and in various interdisciplinary working teams they investigate strategies for urban renewal.

Eichbaumoper

Eichbaumoper

Eichbaumoper is Raumlabor’s vision for the transformation of the Eichbaum underground station between Mülheim and Essen where a new type of opera will be created in an on-site opera site office.

Spacebuster

Spacebuster

Spacebuster opens urban space for temporary collective uses.

“The Spacebuster is build on the basis of a step van and a big inflatable space coming out of the back of the van fitting up to 80 persons in it. People enter the bubble through the passenger’s door of the van walking through to the back down a ramp right into the inflated space. The bubble is supported by air pressure generated by a fan underneath the ramp. The membrane of the bubble is translucent so people on the inside can see schematically what´s going on outside and vice versa. So the membrane acts as a semi permeable border between the public and the more private.”

Stick On City

Stick on city, an imaginary landscape through which visitors can take a tour, then add their own vision by drawing in and simply sticking it into the city, was presented at the 11th biennale of architecture, venice. In part it was a response to a visit to raumlabor by Archigramist Dennis Crompton, who talked about

“the scrapyard of visions, the city as responsive system, interactive buildings, good intentions, imaginary cities and the art of architecture that cannot fail.”

“A new approach to urbanity”

Written by

Snuggles

Snuggle - das mobile Hotel

raumlaborberlin has a solution for temporary festival housing.

“Snuggles was
designed by Berlin-based Raumlabor, which says that it is not an architecture firm, but rather an interdisciplinary team interested in urbanism, and the study of public and private space. The modular system was intended for use as comfortable, safe housing for travelers to festivals, workshops, or other artistic events. Each unit features a three-sided pod with a window and tunnel access to a central pod with sanitary facilities.”

via Inhabitat

According to their website, raumlaborberlin began working on the issues of contemporary architecture and urbanism in 1999m, and in various interdisciplinary working teams they investigate strategies for urban renewal.

Eichbaumoper

Eichbaumoper

Eichbaumoper is Raumlabor’s vision for the transformation of the Eichbaum underground station between Mülheim and Essen where a new type of opera will be created in an on-site opera site office.

Spacebuster

Spacebuster

Spacebuster opens urban space for temporary collective uses.

“The Spacebuster is build on the basis of a step van and a big inflatable space coming out of the back of the van fitting up to 80 persons in it. People enter the bubble through the passenger’s door of the van walking through to the back down a ramp right into the inflated space. The bubble is supported by air pressure generated by a fan underneath the ramp. The membrane of the bubble is translucent so people on the inside can see schematically what´s going on outside and vice versa. So the membrane acts as a semi permeable border between the public and the more private.”

Stick On City

Stick on city, an imaginary landscape through which visitors can take a tour, then add their own vision by drawing in and simply sticking it into the city, was presented at the 11th biennale of architecture, venice. In part it was a response to a visit to raumlabor by Archigramist Dennis Crompton, who talked about

“the scrapyard of visions, the city as responsive system, interactive buildings, good intentions, imaginary cities and the art of architecture that cannot fail.”