Clear-stained aluminum pods with wide openings and oculi at their roofs provide a sequence of refuges for a park, urban plaza or backyard. They are modules that may increase in number depending on the size of the site and the need for shade. The design is particularly suited to year-round hot climates as a permanent installation.
Exploiting the tensile properties of metal and fabric, the pods are made of three sizes of welded metal rings that create a skeleton for the fabric. The fabric is then clipped onto metal grommets. The tensile super structure is welded (Mig) together at the site or in spherical quadrants in the shop and delivered for final assembly. (colored plastic may be substituted for fabric). The design uses multiple geometric shapes and colors that allow one to see the city or landscape through a kaleidoscopic filter.
Bubble shade is at once simple and complex because of the interstitial spaces that are created by the various-shaped fabric set against the sky. As one observer notes, it’s like “intergalactic citrus”. It was a runner-up in the international 2017 Future of Shade competition.
Source: V2Com
Photo credit: Valerie Schweitzer
