The architectural prototype, made up of 6,367 non-linear stripes in glossy white aluminium, is on public display for the first time in Bruges until September 16, 2018, as part of the city’s second art and architecture triennial.
The installation is the invited centrepiece of an exhibition of architectural works from the FRAC Centre collection that have evolved out of the computational turn. “Liquid Architectures” curated by Abdelkader Damani, asserts the Triennale theme of Liquid City with lively, fluid-like forms that upend the notion of architecture as rigidly determined and immutable.
nonLin/Lin, an impressively thin and light prototype in Mesh Segmentation and Structural Stripes, will occupy the nave of Bruges’ Grootseminarie, a 17th century Cistercian Abbey. Each module is made from 1mm thick aluminium stripes, and yet the team was able to crawl on the structure during its assembly. With dimensions 10.1m length, 7.15m width and 3.9m height, forming a Y in plan, the piece twists and unfurls along the main axis of the sanctuary, well suited to the mystical quality of the installation.
Upon approach, one can’t quite determine the structure’s depth but by wandering through its thicket of porous branches to understand its scale and depth. Openings between connecting parts filter the light that spills through the clerestory above, alternately projecting shadow and dappled light onto its interior, and creating an intricate experience that gives the sense of floating through a dreamy coral-like structure.