RETOOLINGDarius Dias _ 7612833EVDS 2500/2900Colin Herperger& Marc MainvilleUniversity of Manitoba, 2010/2011

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THE BRIEF.

Call for Submissions:

The BARGE 2011 Competition Deadline: Friday, March 4th, 2011

RETOOLING. | rēˈtoōl | equip (a factory) with new or adapted tools. Adapt or alter (someone or something) to make them more useful or suitable

What happens to things or places after their ‘functional life’, when they are no longer in (full) effect or use? Do (can) they take on new lives or life-forms? How? How can we imagine and articulate the ‘afterlife’ of defunct objects/places? What are the opportuni-ties in their current (possibly defunct) states and/or forms? How can we turn them into new and perhaps even unique experiences? Can we imagine ‘alternate lives’ of things/places while they are still ‘functioning’? Can life & afterlife (such experience) co-exist? Will they, or can they, offer/inspire alternate perspectives and attitudes towards our current functional alliances?

[Barge 2011 Design Competiton]THINK: FLOATING SENSORY EXPERIENCE

What would YOU like to experience on a BARGE? SHIFTboston is calling on architects, installation artists, designers and landscape architects professionals and students to design an experience installation on a barge in Boston’s Fort Point Channel. Competi-tors are asked to develop a concept which might include one or all of the following com-ponents: recycled/recyclable materials, water, plants, and perhaps digitally fabricated parts. We expect elements such as: water (spray, steam, shallow pools, piping), swings, comfortable lounging spaces, lighting, sound. We would like competitors to explore a closed-loop system. We prefer design elements which will NOT require grid-based en-ergy. Competitors should seek alternative energy sources, laws of physics and environ-mental fluid mechanics. We would like designers to create a SENSORY EXPERIENCE for barge visitors by experimenting with a variety of interesting materials and applica-tions in order to provide a TACTILE, OLFACTORY and VISUAL experience.

THE BRIEF.

THE NARRATIVE.

To start the project, a narrative was composed to re-imagine the history of the barge. To set a basis for the rest of the project, a narrative alowed creativity and imagination to flow and help inspire the reality of the conceptual project.

Excert from narrative ˇThe scientist, exhausted, and happy that his ‘ship’ is actually working, lies down under the rustling sails and looks at the reflection of the sun on the water on the sails. It reminds him of his fiance, of his love for her, and of his new quest to sail and look for her, wherever the winds might take him. The pattern of the waters ripples and movements on his sail canopy is so beautiful and lovely, he wishes he could enjoy it all the time. And so he works, and finds materials for the next week or so, and finally makes some lights. He puts some in the floating pontoons so they glow bright at night. With the others he constructs a box with a light in it that shines the light through a screen of water, the light shines on the sails above and recreates the beautiful ripples of the day, so that he might never forget his quest or his fiance.

And so, gently sailing along the waves at night, comes a gleaming beacon. A lifeboat. A barge. Waves of rippled light cast across its sail strewn canopy, it is testament to one man’s hope in a dark, empty ocean.

Narrative Barge Illustrations ˇ

NARRATIVE > CONCEPT.

The scientist, exhausted, and happy that his ‘ship’ is actually working, lies down under the rustling sails and looks at the reflection of the sun on the water on the sails. It reminds him of his fiance, of his love for her, and of his new quest to sail and look for her, wherever the winds might take him. The pattern of the waters ripples and movements on his sail canopy is so beautiful and lovely, he wishes he could enjoy it all the time. And so he works, and finds materials for the next week or so, and finally makes some lights. He puts some in the floating pontoons so they glow bright at night. With the others he constructs a box with a light in it that shines the light through a screen of water, the light shines on the sails above and recreates the beautiful ripples of the day, so that he might never forget his quest or his fiance.

And so, gently sailing along the waves at night, comes a gleaming beacon. A lifeboat. A barge. Waves of rippled light cast across its sail strewn canopy, it is testament to one man’s hope in a dark, empty ocean.

THE CONCEPT.

Retool | Textiles | Canopy

Sails. Made from reused tex-tile material; semi-transparent

vqualities; sunlight filters through; receives light pro-

jected from below. Attached to floating support towers, the canopy will undulate and sway with

the movement of wind/water.

Floating | Sensory

Retool | Plastic Bags | Floating Towers

Floating towers; reused plastic bags, fused and woven to-

gether, clad the ‘buoy’ tower structure. Lights within the structure , provide

illumination to the sculptural forms at night.

Glow | Beacon

Beach | Sand | Experience

Bringing the beach experience to the inner harbour; sand be-

comes a multi use area.

Play | Relax

Light | Water | Reflection | Lounge

A backrest and lounge area on the sand. The module incor-porates a water feature with

lights to shine the water patterns on the canopy above.

Lounge | Reflect

Retool | Oil Barrel | Floating Tower Support

Oil Barrels are reused as the floating platform for the towers.

Anchored to the channel bot-tom, the buoys translate the waters movement

to the towers.

Floating | Support

Disconnected from the land, new op-portunities arise on a floating structure. Taking this unique floating condition of the project, the concept was to further enhance and exploit the floating and aquatic sensorial experience. One of the most recognizable aspects of a floating experience is the shifting floor plane. A barge however, is intentionally designed to be stable, and this rocking or shifting of the floor plane aspect would be limited and not pronounced. So, if the floor plane would not have the desired undulating movement of a floating condition, then perhaps another plane could. The over-all concept to embody an aquatic con-dition on top of the barge incorporating both surface and sub-surface aspects. A shifting and rippling ceiling plane will incorporate sub-surface aquatic sensa-tions. The ceiling, canopy sails, attached to floating buoy towers will translate the ambient floating potential of the buoys to a fluctuating ceiling plane, creating an aquatic and floating sensorial experi-ence. In addition, to further complement the synthetic aquatic condition, the play of light, both through and reflected, in water is utilized. During the day, sunlight reflects off the water, casting dynamic patterns on the canopy. At night, lights located in the lounge module shine through a layer of water onto the canopy.

CONCEPT.

MODELS.

MODELS.

MODELS.

MODELS.

EXPERIENCE.

EXPERIENCE.

Mixing elements of a practical beach experi-ence, with an imaginative floating/aquatic ex-

perience, the concept seeks to deliver a unique sensorial experience, in a usable, inhabitable

space.