FIU Interior Architecture students are exploring the use of fabric in contemporary art and architecture. “Curtains” is a multi-site installation, exhibition, and publication event designed by The Center For American Architecture And Design at The University of Texas, Austin. It aims to experiment with fabric as a vehicle for creating both space and experience.
Our Graduate Design 2 Studio students are developing an installation with adjunct faculty member Yaprak Markeset. The goal of this competition is to challenge architects, artists and designers to create functional yet architecturally evocative scaled curtains. The installation will be one of many produced in different locations and publicly accessible all over the world. The “Curtains” event is scheduled for October 18.
Yaprak and students decided the primary material for our installation will use the plastic bag as the “fabric” to create this exciting installation. The School of Architecture will be the site for the installation and will engage all students to become part of this haptic space. Having the installation outdoors will not only allow wind to become part of the exhibition but it will also create an inviting outdoor space for students and faculty to experience the way this material activates its surroundings, allowing for new discoveries by modulating light, creating sounds, colors, etc.
Students started experimenting with ‘bag’ curtain ideas in the second week of this semester. The process allowed them to pick the best communicative designs and to develop them for final submission. This is a great opportunity for our students to explore the nature of an unconventional material such as plastic bags on a large scale, and transform them into a beautiful public space. We hope to engage and invite our community of creative individuals to participate in this exciting installation.
The jury includes Petra Blaisse (of Inside/Outside) and Craig Dykers (of Snøhetta), and the event hosts Christo as well. Winning proposals, documentation of actual installations, and a collection of papers on the topic will be published as the nineteenth volume of Center, an award-winning book series, in 2014.