TEXTILES.ORG
For the Envision Festival 2012 in Costa Rica, festival organizers wanted a free-standing
structure that would serve both as a functional space and as a vivid showpiece for
visitors. It would provide partial shade for morning yoga classes and mid-day workshops,
and should also make a striking visual complement to the site. They were familiar with the
works of GuildWorks LLC, Portland, Ore., and contacted the ’Architects of the air’ to make
the structure a reality.
The result of their collaborations: the Yoga Temple, a place that
would provide the desired midday shade and allow airflow for focused workshops and morning
yoga, as well as offering a beautiful backdrop and place of refuge during the rest of the
festival. The structure had to be assembled quickly on site without the use of heavy
machinery. It was brought down with GuildWorks employees by plane. The installers were
able to utilize local harvest bamboo for structural support. Based on traditional
geometric proportions, the structure went up smoothly, and the two-way stretch fabric fit
like a glove, creating 36 perfect stretched hypar shade pieces that made comfortable
mid-day shade and elaborate afternoon shadows.
GuildWorks’ dye baths produced stunning
colors for the fabric pieces, not only fitting with festival publicity themes but
recollecting the hues found on the bright tropical flowers of Costa Rica. For festival
organizers as well as many visitors, the Yoga Temple became their favorite part of the
festival grounds.