Summer Studio 2014: Kissing Sparrows WITH RIGIDIZED METALS CORPORATION
“You say to a Brick, ‘What do you want Brick?’ And brick says to you, ‘I like an arch.’ Louis Kahn
In the unbound curiosity of material experimentation, the architectural installation is an innate, even addictive compulsion toward the haptic calling of invention. An appealing serenade with seductive promise, with pleasurable benefits the +FARM 2014 Summer Studio with Rigidized Metals Corporation at Silo City in Buffalo, New York indulged their curiosities. The studio: Kissing Sparrows, corrupted by the Siren’s licentious song embraced not the delicate sweetness of completion, but rather the immoral satisfaction of failure.
The project fathomed the unfathomable by jettisoning the archival history of material performance in search of new possibilities hidden within paradoxical shadows. A fabric like nest, Kissing Sparrows is an unscientific three dimensional narrative constructed of stainless steel into an aesthetically ravishing and gratifying figure to behold.
The defiant Sparrows had to be behave like a flock of wild teenagers in order to clarify a far more exciting project. During installation, the team watched the nest re-organize in a fluid, almost fabric like manner – contrary to the logic of a controlled grid. These various nests produced conical vaults and fluid behaviors that pleased the design team, but thwarted the engineering team. When the sparrows tumbled to the ground (beyond formal behaviors) they yielded two amazing results: 1. A rigid structure 2. Fluidity between the sparrows (movement of one sparrow would then create a wave effect over the others). This design has the ability to be structurally organized without loosing the play and movement of each individual part – to produce a behavior exactly as anticipated in the early study models, with the help of a secondary structure.
Ultimately the “engineering” team couldn’t comprehend how to control the system. This system excites both architectural voyeurs and experts alike. It’s not a global grid, or soft skin. Kissing Sparrows is a behavioral nest that satisfies designers appeal and the demands of the built environment. By embracing an epic failure, a very difficult lesson to absorb, the studio saw a greater landscape that is far more desirable than had only asked, “Sparrows, what do you want to be?”.
