Performative Surfaces and The Economy of Form
The mobile exhibition design for “The Austrian Winery Boom” provided SPAN with the chance to explore the issue of Performative Surfaces as well as The Economy of Form to a deeper extent. The Az W (Architekturzentrum Wien) asked for a design that had to fulfill various criteria: It had to be lightweight for transportation purposes, it had to protect the architectural models on display, additionally, it had to protect wine bottles and it had to display graphics with the plans and images of the projects. To fulfill all these demands Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger relied on the concept of minimizing the number of parts necessary to create a display case, as well as integrating as much of the necessary functions in only two surfaces. The design process resulted in a very specific topology of the surface, which enabled the programming of the shells with a specific form. This form not only fulfilled the demands but also made it possible to fabricate the piece in very thin material (3mm) resulting in a high integrity performance with minimum use of material. To achieve this task the machinic process of milling formworks was explored to the full extent resulting in undulating patterns on the surface, created by the milling path of the machine. These patterns were pressed into the vacuum formed shells and increased the stability and rigidity of the material. The result was a highly intricate surface condition, an undulating surface pattern consisting of ribs and ridges. The Family of three different types of pods was combined in varying groups, organized on the floors and walls of the exhibition space, the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. Manifold groups in this case achieved the effect of continuous differentiation.
