Boston studio Höweler + Yoon has stitched collectively steel modules to type a faceted canopy that shades an urban pocket park in the desert city of Phoenix, Arizona .
Named Shadow Perform, the powder-coated steel construction is composed of clusters of geometric modules that are thin but structurally rigid. The clusters – held up by vertical supports – block the intense daytime sun and generate ever-changing shadows on the concrete pavers below.
“Shadows are like drawings,” stated Eric Höweler, co-founder of Höweler + Yoon. “They draw dynamic patterns across the ground. Our canopy is meant to generate variable geometric shadows across the internet site, although filtering out distinct light during particular occasions of day.”
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“We also wished to encourage air movement, so the canopy is not solid. It really is produced of discrete cells.”
The firm performed preliminary research making use of folded origami paper. “Sooner or later we did structural optimisation scientific studies to figure out a cost-powerful way to span among supports and nonetheless give us the porous canopy that we were looking for,” mentioned Höweler.
Photovoltaic panels are mounted to the top of the canopy, with every single module oriented to capture sunlight. Power produced by the solar panels is stored in batteries and used at night to illuminate the structure.
The firm created metal benches utilising the very same basic geometry as the parasols. Trees and landscaping have also been extra to the publicly funded park, which was inaugurated in July throughout a ceremony attended by city officials and community leaders.
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“[The] opening day was 108 degrees fahrenheit,” noted Höweler. “It was about ten degrees cooler in the shade.”
The little, triangular park is bordered by streets in the Roosevelt Row Arts District, an location undergoing a construction boom, in accordance to nearby reports. The task is part of a more substantial improvement scheme intended to beautify the district and make it safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
“By transforming a targeted traffic median into a public room, Shadow Play fosters pedestrian life and improves the downtown Phoenix streetscape,” stated the firm.
Höweler + Yoon was founded in 2005 by architects J Meejin Yoon and Eric Höweler. Other tasks by the studio include a glow-in-the-dark swing set in Boston and a residence in Virginia composed of stacked blocks.
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