IwamotoScott Architecture: Voussoir Cloud

Date change:
Exhibition discussion with Eric Owen Moss, Lisa Iwamoto, Craig Scott
and representatives from Buro Happold: Friday, 08.15.08 at 7pm

The SCI-Arc Gallery is pleased to present Voussoir Cloud, a site-specific installation by San Francisco based architecture and design practice IwamotoScott in collaboration with Buro Happold. Voussoir Cloud’s design explores the coupling of potentially conflicting constructional logics – the pure compression of a vault with an ultra-light sheet material. Opening August 8, this installation will be fabricated by IwamotoScott in association with SCI-Arc students. 

Voussoirs, the wedge shaped masonry blocks that make up an arch, are redefined in Voussoir Cloud using a system of three-dimensional modules formed by folding paper thin wood laminate along curved seams. The curvature produces a form that relies on the internal surface tension to hold its shape and allows for a structural porosity within the constraints of sheet material. The resulting dimpled, concave modules pack together; naturally creating vaulted forms with a light porous surface. The form-finding exploration of the whole is thus dependent on the geometric performance of the individual units and their relation to the gallery walls. 

Voussoir Cloud intentionally confuses the structural and material strategies. By beginning with a material operation, the design process is focused on calibrating the relationship of digital model to physical result. Working closely with IwamotoScott, SCI-Arc students will assist in the design, construction and installation of the work. 

About IwamotoScott:
IwamotoScott Architecture is a San Francisco-based practice led by Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott. As a practice committed to pursuing architecture as a form of applied design research, ISAr engages in projects at multiple scales and in a variety of contexts consisting of full-scale fabrications, museum installations and exhibitions, theoretical proposals, competitions and commissioned design projects. 

ISAr’s recent projects include ORDOS100, a design for a villa in Inner Mongolia for a site of 100 villas by 100 architects selected by Herzog & de Meuron; HydroNet, the winning entry for City of the Future: San Francisco 2108; Jellyfish House, designed for “Open House: Technologies for Intelligent Living” curated by the Vitra Design Museum and Art Center College of Design; and REEF, designed for the MoMA/PS1 2007 Young Architects Program. The firm has received numerous awards and has been published nationally and internationally.