Woven Intricacies

 

Woven Intricacies is a sculptural shade structure looking to the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes region and the innovative nature of the City of Geneva. The structure is simple in its material logic, utilizing only the ubiquitous and low cost steel strip and rivets for its assembly. Looking to natures use of cellular pluripotency for inspiration, intelligent computer algorithms generate highly precise hole patterns along
each strip allowing for clean and easy fabrication, leveraging the material behavior to create not only elegant curvilinear forms but also a highly structural geometry.

Responding to the strong vineyard culture of the Finger Lakes, our design seeks to utilize nature
directly as a means of shading. While grape vines require a rigorous and involved maintenance schedule, we have chosen to incorporate Morning Glories as a yearly shade. Morning glories, as a plant require little
maintenance and thrive of little water and wither at the end of the season. In this way, we are able to have a strong natural shading element in the summer when shade is desired, while maintaining an open and porous structure through winter months, allowing sun to shine through on those few days it decides to come out and avoiding the need for heavy snow load calculations.

Our existing proposal is a rough sketch, while the structural and material system has been
rigorously tested and prototyped at Cornell University, we hope to have and open dialogue and discussion with the planning committee and city leaders about how they might see the structure being implemented. Our approach to art and design is driven by collaboration, we look forward to having further discussions and development with the people of Geneva regarding how they might cap off the
exciting new waterfront feature.

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