2012 MoMA PS1 Winner (UPDATED) / HWKN
by ybaynes Published on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Earlier today, The New York City-based group of designers and creators, HWKN, was selected as the winner of the 2012 Young Architects Program at MoMA PS1. The installation is titled “Wendy” and “she” is big, aggressive and environmentally sound.
Wendy does not play the typical architecture game of ecological apology – instead she is pro-active. That is why Wendy is composed of nylon fabric treated with a ground breaking titania nanoparticle spray to neutralize airborne pollutants. During the summer of 2012 Wendy will clean the air to an equivalent of taking 260 cars off the road. Wendy’s boundary is defined by tools like shade, wind, rain, music, and visual identity to reach past the confines of physical limits. Wendy crafts an environment – not just a space. Spikey arms reach out with micro-programs like blasts of cool air, music, water canons and mists to create social zones throughout the courtyard.
A seductive crystalline form and object. We will see how it operates spatially. We wonder if these gals/guys were inspired watching the Superman Returns Deleted Opening Scene (watch at the end) while brainstorming Wendy. Very cool, though.
Stay tuned as we give this installation a thorough review in near future.
UPDATE: More photos showing the inner workings of Wendy.
New York-based HWKN has been selected for this year’s MoMA/PS 1 Young Architects Program. Their proposal, called “Wendy,” uses standard scaffolding to create a visually arresting object that straddles the three outdoor rooms of the PS 1 courtyard. Tensioned fabric coated in smog-eating paint provides shelter and programming areas including a stage, shower, and misters. “Their proposal is quite attractive in a number of ways. It’s very economical in terms of design,” said Pedro Gadanho, the curator of contemporary architecture at MoMA. “One object creates a variety of programmatic and ecological conditions and its scale rivals the height of the PS 1 building.”
HWKN Thread
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