TEAM SITU STUDIO
ROLE DESIGNER / INSTALL LEAD
LOCATION MANHATTAN, NY
For the annual event of their Beaux Arts Ball, the Architectural League of New York chose the historic site of the 69th Street Regiment Armory. Our team at SITU Studio designed a series of suspended tensegrity structures which broke and formed shapes and planes, intending to push the boundaries of the singular datum line from which they were suspended.
The entire installation was pre-fabricated off-site to allow for full scale mock-ups; testing of different materials, and how these structures could be suspended and easily pre-fabricated.
What came to fruition were polyethylene sheets made from recycled resins, used as modular, slightly transparent planes. These were sewn together using nylon cords to obtain tension, with aluminum electrical conduit used as compression poles.
The environment of suspended sheets allowed for a variety of spaces within the event space, creating areas of intimacy and areas of openness.