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WonderWALL was a temporary exhibit space every bit as creative and compelling as the artwork it housed. Designed by LIKEarchitects of Porto, Portugal, to showcase the art piece “The Pool” by Jen Lewin, the cylindrical space was installed at the Colombo Shopping Mall in Lisbon in Sept. 2014. Made of approximately 20,000 strips of white and black polyester and cotton fabric, the walls of the museum oscillated with airflow created by the movement of people. The structure had no one entrance. Instead, its façade was fully permeable. The ability to enter the space at any point was an important part of the experience, freeing visitors to fully interact with the exhibit. Once inside, material continuity and the absence of spatial references helped visitors to immerse themselves in the bright, colorful space.
The exhibit structure was suspended on steel cables from a skylight in the central square of the mall. It measured 46 feet in diameter by 14 feet tall. For brightness and control issues, the interior was purposely hidden from view. Visitors to the mall first encountered a large textile cylinder that, because of its size, shape and texture, was an instant draw.
The structure was purposely set to rest just above the floor of the mall. This exposed a minimum amount of the artist’s work, inviting visitors with an enticing line of vibrant light coming from the inside. The interior was a white fabric dome, which made The Pool stand out because it could easily reflect the color variations that characterized the interactive light artwork.
