Another Generosity, designed 2018 by Eero Lundén, Ron Aasholm, and Carmen Lee of Lundén Architecture Company, in collaboration with Bergent, BuroHappold Engineering, and Aalto University (Courtesy of the designers)
This is one of the pieces from an exhibition I found while visiting the Philadelphia Museum in 2018. The name of the exhibition is “design for future”. The work is called “Another generosity”. It uses a lot of flexible plastic and rubber so the piece is like having multiple smaller balloons in one big balloon. It provides gas and electricity through several hoses to ensure the volume and lighting of the “balloon”. Almost the only metal parts used in the whole work are the valves. It has sensors so that the work can detect the carbon dioxide content of the air through movement and light color.
Another version of this work is that it provides a small space for people to walk into the “balloon”. The authors designed a structure in the balloon to ensure that after inflation there is a free space for a person to walk. When people walk inside the “balloon”, a soft ball with lights and a frosted surface will surround them. It allows the viewer to feel like they are in another space.
Our environment is changing dramatically. Wether our architecture is adapting to these changes? Through this work, the authors wanted to find the relationship between architecture and nature and how to make the two coexist.