BAM: winter garden installation

all images © BAM

With this project, ballistic architecture machine (BAM) was brought in to create an installation for the cavernous lobby of a new hotel/shopping center in North Eastern China.
A list was compiled of characteristics to focus on—“fuzziness”, “translucency”, and “randomness”, to name a few—and with those in mind the development process began. The initial studies of the space focused on sun and shadow patterns in the building throughout the year. Modeling software was used to determine which areas of the space received the most light, which received the least, and when this was happening. Cross-sections of the building were examined for shadow patterns.Returning to the BAM Shape Lab, exhaustive shape studies were completed, heated arguments were had, and the form of the individual units that will make up the cloud was eventually decided upon with unanimous excitement. With the shape of the individual unit and the illuminating information provided by the sun studies, BAM went back to the 3D modeling and determined a number of possible overall shapes/sizes for the installation. Maps were made of “sun volumes”—three dimensional shapes representing varying light intensities within the installation space—arming BAM with an understanding of how to manipulate the piece for maximum effect. 

1:25 model

shading diagram

unit shape study1

unit shape study2

unit shape study3

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