| As part of the Making Choices exhibition at the MoMA, the Paper Arch project
revises the notion of the traditional architecture exhibit (for instance,
the construction of experimental houses in the garden that took place between
1940 and 1960). During that period, Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Developing
Units(1941), Marcel Breuer’s House with a Museum Garden (1945-1955), and
Junzo Yoshimura’s Japanese House with a Museum Garden (1945-1955) were
placed on exhibit. Although this part of the exhibition was called a “revival,”
instead of recreating previous works MoMA asked us to create a modern piece
of experimental architecture. In keeping with the spirit of the exhibit,
I wanted to do an experimental work like Flau or Breuer, but instead of
an individual object like a house I wanted to incorporate the entire Sculpture
Garden. I presented an 26.5m-long paper-arch that covers the garden. Because
of financial limitations, the paper-arch was realized at a third of its
originally planned size, but even so, the concept was sufficiently expressed.
By solving the problems faced in using a wood and cardboard tube hybrid
structure at the Hanover Expo we were able to construct a pure Paper Architecture
here. Although wooden arches were incorporated to withhold the deformation
of the cardboard tube grid shell in Hanover, for this occasion cardboard
tube trusses were used. During the exhibit of the Arch, various shadow
patterns will play out on the garden, patterns that wrap around the trees
and flowers and the sculptures by Alexander Calder that I so admire. Furthermore,
this arch will become a part of the history of the museum’s architecture
and a part of the college made of various architects’ work at the museum.
The arch also interestingly contrasts with the hard city texture of the
lateral tendency of the museum’s environment. |
