MirrorMirror by Rafailidis from usa

MirrorMirror tents are extremely lightweight, portable street fair / event structures with a double-sided mirrored canopy. The simple, gabled roof, angled at 45 degrees, reflects urban activity on the ground in multiple ways and offers a radically new and intensified view of street life. Fairgoers underneath the tent can look up and watch their doubles strolling along in the mirror world and watch others. MirrorMirror relates to people, independent of how or where the structure is being used. The exterior of the mirrored roof reflects higher parts of the city and the sky. These patches of sky provide glimpses of lightness and airiness into the dense urban ground plane and make the structure site specific to any location. Wind, clouds and the path of the sun also change the appearance of the structure dramatically during the course of day.
The roof is made with reinforced aluminum framed panels and stretched, reflective Mylar foil. Mylar foil is typically used in spacecraft construction as solar sails and in the film industry to create large scale mirrors on films sets. The extreme reflectivity creates a surreal, dream like quality.
The structural system consists of two angles: the mirrored gabled roof and a steel frame tripod. Both structures are hinged to be able to be packed completely flat for transport and storage. A structure covering 1000sqft, once packed-up, barely fills half a U-Haul moving truck.

The on-site assembly of the tents is rapid. First, all steel frames unfold to form tripods. Then, the mirrored panels unhinge and slide onto the steel frames to form a rigid structural system. Standard concrete blocks provide the necessary weight to resist uplift by winds. The only tool needed is a 1/2 inch wrench to secure the roof panel onto the steel frame.

MirrorMirror allows for radically different configurations in scale, use and spatial experience. It can be used as a single unit and it can also be combined into larger structures to form linear or field like typologies. The tents are scheduled for a variety of events over the summer period and the mirroring camouflage effect will make them site-specific to any of the upcoming sites.

For the Ideas City street fair in New York City this past May, for example, Davidson Rafailidis chose to create a linear, barn-like configuration in front of the New Museum building by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA. The house-like section formed a dialogue with the abstract cubic structure of the museum building.

In the contemporary culture of short lived and unstable architectural programs, MirrorMirror is a case study into an instant architecture which relates to people independent from the short lifespan of contemporary programs.