No better time than the depths of this snowy, slushy, gross winter to start daydreaming about summer, so we were delighted to see the designs for this year's MoMA PS1 courtyard hit our inbox today. The kooky architectural installations have been a summer highlight for 15 years, and the 2014 edition will feature a circular tower constructed from earthen bricks made of corn stalks and mushroom root materials. Designed by David Benjamin of the Living, the pavilion, called Hy-Fi, will have virtually no waste and require no energy. Hy-Fi opens this June in conjunction with PS1's annual summer concert series.
Hy-Fi from David Benjamin on Vimeo.
Some archibabble explaining how this tubular tower will come to be:
The organic bricks are produced through an innovative combination of corn stalks (that otherwise have no value) and specially-developed living root structures, a process that was invented by Ecovative, an innovative company that The Living is collaborating with. The reflective bricks are produced through the custom-forming of a new daylighting mirror film invented by 3M. The reflective bricks are used as growing trays for the organic bricks, and then they are incorporated into the final construction before being shipped back to 3M for use in further research. The organic bricks are arranged at the bottom of the structure and the reflective bricks are arranged at the top to bounce light down on the towers and the ground. The structure inverts the logic of load-bearing brick construction and creates a gravity-defying effect—instead of being thick and dense at the bottom, it is thin and porous at the bottom. The structure is calibrated to create a cool micro-climate in the summer by drawing in cool air at the bottom and pushing out hot air at the top.· Young Architects Program 2014: Hy-Fi by The Living [MoMA PS1]
· Hy-Fi [The Living]
· All Young Architects Program coverage [Curbed]
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