PAPER SKY

Paper sky was an instal­la­tion art­work that was con­structed for Urbis Design Day 2010 at the Poggen­pohl Kitchens show­rooms in Auck­land, New Zealand. The project called for a trans­for­ma­tive inter­ven­tion into the space which allowed for an alter­na­tive view­ing of the dis­play kitchens, while pro­vid­ing an immer­sive expe­ri­ence for patrons of Urbis Design Day.

The tur­bu­lent sur­face rolls overhead.

The show­room housed more than a dozen dis­play kitchens which are beau­ti­fully designed in their own right. How­ever, this made the large space feel com­part­men­talised. It was decided that a ceil­ing mounted inter­ven­tion would allow us to string together spaces into a larger vol­ume, while simul­ta­ne­ously hid­ing the generic com­mer­cial sus­pended ceil­ing that was existing.

The Paper Sky dips down to just below vis­i­tors to change the vol­ume of the spaces.

The design called for a light­weight, low cost, small mod­ule, flex­i­ble struc­ture which could be secured to the exist­ing sus­pended ceil­ing rails. Paper was cho­sen as the prin­ci­pal mate­r­ial with nylon being used for the ten­sile net sub struc­ture and the mechan­i­cal fix­ings. Dis­tri­b­u­tion of the struc­tural load allowed the Paper Sky to be hung with­out any hard fixings.

Piec­ing together the Paper Sky by hand

The Paper Sky became a con­tin­u­ous sur­face that con­nected all parts of the showroom.

Con­structed from 20,000 hand folded paper mod­ules and cov­er­ing over 300m2, the form was gen­er­ated by actively sculpt­ing the tri­an­gu­lated sur­face as it was installed.

This allowed us to respond to con­text spe­cific obsta­cles and to fine tune the over­all shape.

The cur­va­ture of the macro sur­face and the tri­an­gu­la­tion of the micro sur­face is high­lighted by the use of coloured lights.

Spaces were dif­fer­en­ti­ated by the use of coloured light­ing and music. The atmos­phere of the party was car­ried on through the choice of tri­an­gu­lar canapés and the themed gift bags for guests. The event was a great suc­cess and the instal­la­tion was cho­sen for the cover of Urbis mag­a­zine and for instal­la­tion in the VIP room at New Zealand Fash­ion Week.