Inflatables // Related Works

Blow Up, George Yu Architects 2004 // coopHimmelblau 1968

Historically, inflatable and responsive architecture has been created in reaction against solid, brick-and-mortar traditional building techniques. Groups spawned during the tumultuous climate of 1968 Paris like Coop Himmelblau, Utopie, and Archigram rejected not just traditional architecture, but also the rigid way of teaching it, and the "old society" that upheld/enforced codified systems of exchange. Now in the 21st century, there is a resurgence of interest in inflatables for architecture as well as humanitarian shelter.

Bubbles was created by Foxlin (Michael Fox and Juintow Lin), NONDesigns (Miao Miao and Scott Franklin) and Brand Name Label (Gabriel Renz) with Axel Kilian, Darius Miller, and numerous talented volunteers.

The interactive installation is a spatially adaptable pneumatic environment at an urban scale. The installation consists of large air-bags or "bubbles" that inflate and deflate in reaction to visitors pushing or bumping the lower inflated volume of each pair. As visitors enter and move through the installation, they must navigate through the lightweight 8’ diameter spheres that fill the space. When the bubbles are bumped, sensors initiate a chaotic exchange of air between the spheres. When no visitors are present, the system returns to its stand-by state: the lower bubble in the pair refills with air and awaits another interaction.

ref:

http://www.emanate.org/bubbles.htm

http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/bubbles-interactive-pneumatic-environment.html

http://ibubbles.blogspot.com/