We had Adam Smith of SYNECDOCHE produce a video of the CUTWORK project for the PROTOMOMENTS exhibit. It can be viewed online here.

area’s exhibit PROTOMOMENTS will be showing at the McGill University School of Architecture, January 5 – 26, 2015. The exhibit features 3 full scale constructions, along with videos and boards describing projects we’ve produced over the last 8 years. Anca will give a lecture on our work following the closing on January 26th.

A video of the c-LITH project, describing the process of its fabrication can be viewed here.

c-LITH will be on exhibit at Art Prize in Grand Rapids, MI until October 12, 2014. More information on the location and voting can be found here. VOTE FOR US!!

Photo: Brian Kelly

c-LITH is the reconsideration of the architectural building unit through the exploration of new composite techniques and materials. Our project develops individual components that exploit the strength, lightness, and variability possible with carbon fiber filaments when paired with computation, digital fabrication, and hand assembly.

Traditionally, architectural units made of brick or concrete are small and multiple, heavy, difficult to vary, and are much better in compression than tension. Using carbon fiber filaments to create variable units allows for larger individual units that can vary in both shape and structural performance as needed. Our units, pound for pound, have higher capacities in both compression and tension and therefore impact the design in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions. Most importantly, however, our units address the use of carbon fiber at the scale of architectural production.

The images below are of the project installed @ the Taubman College Liberty Annex Gallery as part of the Research Through Making Exhibit, March 12 – April 20, 2014.

PROJECT TEAM
DESIGN: Glenn Wilcox and Anca Trandafirescu
FABRICATION AND ASSEMBLY: Glenn Wilcox, Anca Trandafirescu, Megha Chandrasekhar, Troy Hillman, Secil Taskoparan, Rebecca Braun, Ryan Mason, Sam Seeger, Peter Choi, Chris Pine and John Larmor
FUNDING: Grant from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan

Drawings and models for the LUMANOTUS project are on display at the Swift Wade Gallery in Winston-Salem, NC, from November 2 – 17. The full scale inflatable constructions and lighting project will be installed in Winston Square Park in Winston-Salem from November 13 – 17. The project will be lit and open to the public from 7pm – 10pm. The project is made possible with generous public support, funding from UNCSA and the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.

In mid-September we traveled to Winston-Salem, NC to conduct a workshop with the Director of Lighting Design Prof. Norman Coates’s lighting design class at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in constructing inflatable structures. We are collaborating with this group on the project LUMANOTUS – this years Winston-Salem Lightning Project. The project will be comprised of large scale, inhabitable, inflatable structures installed for 6 days in a public park in downtown Winston-Salem. The students, under Prof Coates’s direction, will design lighting and image projection schemes that will animate the structures through choreographed performances. The event will be open and free to the public – however we are accepting donations for the project through this site. There will also be a public lecture on our work and exhibition of the design material for the project during the mounting of the pieces in mid-November. Below are a few images of a small test inflatable that we built while in NC – shown both in the lighting studio and the site.