A photo-luminescent, solar canopy is coming to MoMA PS1 this summer
It never hurts to think of warmer months on days like today, and MoMA PS1’s announcement of whose design will fill their courtyard this summer certainly does the trick. The winner of their 18th annual Young Architects Program is Jenny Sabin Studio. The Ithaca-based experimental architecture studio created “Lumen” in response to the competition’s request for a temporary outdoor installation that provides shade, seating, and water, while addressing environmental issues such as sustainability and recycling. The result is a tubular canopy made of “recycled, photo-luminescent, and solar active textiles that absorb, collect, and deliver light.”
Jenny Sabin is principal at Jenny Sabin Studio, as well as a professor of Design and Emerging Technologies at Cornell’s Department of Architecture and the director of the Sabin Design Lab at Cornell APP, a research-design program that specializes in computational design, data visualization, and digital fabrication. According to the Studio’s page, their mission is to investigate “the intersections of architecture and science.” Along these lines, the canopy’s highly responsive, digitally knit, 3D fabric was first developed for Nike. By draping it above the courtyard, the firm creates a “multisensory environment” that changes from day to night. Not only can it absorb and produce light when it’s needed, but its hanging “stalactites” take into account visitors’ proximity, letting off a refreshing mist as people walk by.
In a statement, Sean Anderson, Associate Curator in MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design, said, “Jenny Sabin’s catalytic immersive environment, Lumen, captured the jury’s attention for imaginatively merging public and private spaces. With innovative construction and design processes borne from a critical merging of technology and nature to precise attention to detail at every scale, Lumen will no doubt engage visitors from day to night in a series of graduated environments and experiences.”
Lumen will be on view beginning June 27th through MoMA PS1’s summer Warm Up series.
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All images courtesy of Jenny Sabin Studio
