pratt institute's GAUD students end term with floating gallery installation

pratt institute’s GAUD students end term with floating gallery installation
all images © alan tansey

once annually, students of pratt institute’s graduate architecture & urban design program collaborate to create an installation. the exhibit explores digital fabrication methods, as well as showcase work accumulated from the previous term. it also coincides with the publication of ‘in process’, pratt’s annual print index of student work. 

the floating volume is created using rotated cardboard panels

this year, GAUD students, led by course professors michael szivos and ryan whitby–both of new york city’s SOFTlab–chose to create a hanging installation. the collection of displayed works come together in a spatial catalog via precisely rotated, hanging panels. their orientation reveals and obscures bits and pieces of each piece and allows visitors to move freely underneath and around the volume. 

the installation’s 800+ panels are kept in line by a simple system of steel ball bearings, and string which connect to an organized grid of CNC cut disks above. vaulted cavities give the piece a sense of motion, and give visitors space to venture and view works placed on pedestals below. the gradual rotation of panels towards the apex of each vault produces a visually dynamic filter to frame works in different ways regardless of the spectator’s position.

precise rotation of the panels gravitates to the podiums below like a magnetic field

each image was custom cut, then assembled onto the laser cut panels. all parts used to create the exhibition were made using computer modeling techniques that highly the importance of digital fabrication in the program. the design team was composed of GAUD students: elisa yi feng, zachary grzybowski, jeremy hill, eunmee hong, sasimanas hoonsuwan, wooseong kewon, maria nikolovski, danica selem, milad showkatbakhsh, t. craig singlair, and emily walek. 

one side of each panel is laminated with a slice of visual work from the school

rotation of panels is dictated by a CNC cut disk that attaches to a grid above

a steel ball bearing stiffens the string to keep elements in their proper orientation 

the hanging volume of panels is vaulted creating cavities to view the models

the field of rotated panels creates a volumetric lenticular effect

the work is map through a gradation of color 

as visitors move around the rotated panels the volume shifts in color and transparency

detail of hanging panel

all components are made out of flat parts generated by a computer model

designboom has received this project through its ‘DIY submissions’ feature, which welcomes readers to submit their own work for publication. see more designboom readers submissions here.