[Renderings by SO-IL.]
One never has to travel very far in Long Island City to come across a good pole dance, but this summer P.S. 1 will have all its local competitors beat. The art museum has announced the winner of its annual Young Architects Program design competition, which every summer fills P.S. 1's Jackson Avenue courtyard with crazy contraptions like last year's Wookies and 2008's urban farm. Congrats this year goes to Brooklyn-based SO-IL and its husband-and-wife team of Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu. The Archpaper got the scoop on the couple's triumph and also has the details of the proposal, titled, yep, Pole Dance. It consists of 100 flexible fiberglass rods rising 25 feet into the LIC sky, supporting a 9,000-square-foot net that will hold up dozens of balls that bounce around as wasted Warm-Up revelers shake the poles. If you think that sounds awesome and fun then you're a really big jerk, because it's actually intended to represent these harsh times. Duh!
Here's how the architects and Archpaper explain it:
SO-IL's entry, Pole Dance, is in many ways a metaphor for these uncertain times. "What we wanted to do is propose a structure that was constantly trying to find its balance as it was influenced by people and outside forces," Idenburg explained. "It's a take on the wider world, where we're always trying to find balance in our lives and in everything around us." While Idenburg said this message is mainly directed at the struggle to create a sustainable future, it could just as easily represent other anxieties—job security, health care, terrorism—gripping the city, country, and world.That's some heavy archibabble! Previous YAP winners include SHoP, so expect SO-IL to be designing a neighborhood-crushing arena within the next decade or so.
· Shaking Up P.S. 1 [Archpaper]
· SO-IL [Official Site]
· Young Architects Program [P.S. 1]
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