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During the dark days of winter, the Amsterdam Light Festival brightens the city with light-filled artwork created by architects and designers from around the world. There are two routes of artwork: Water Colors, the boat route; and Illuminade, the walking route.
Last year’s theme was biomimicry: the imitation of natural phenomena for the purpose of solving complex human problems. Inspired by that idea, the festival’s ticketing and information booth was an illuminated piece of artwork unto itself.
Created by UNStudio, an Amsterdam-based international architectural design network, Eye_Beacon Pavilion was a bright focal point that connected the space between the two artwork routes.
Designers looked to the deep sea for inspiration, channeling living organisms that counteract their dark environments by employing bioluminescence, often a hypnotic pulsating light, as an attraction and communication mechanism. The pavilion consists of cube forms that become two halves emphasizing the crossing point between the festival routes, connected to one another by twisting surfaces. The cubes required 316 panels with uneven dimensions that were determined using parametric optimization of the surfaces to ensure efficient fabrication and installation. The twisting surfaces are formed by connecting 2-D and 3-D textile units. The dramatic color changes that attracted visitors were achieved with focused LED projection gradient color changes on the inside of the structure.
UNStudio worked with MDT-tex, a Hardheim, Germany-based designer and manufacturer of membranes and outdoor architectural textiles, to develop the tensile textile units for all the surfaces of the pavilion.
For more information, visit www.mdt-tex.com.
