COCOON

COCOON
This design build course focused on the structural and spatial possibilities of welded wire mesh, for the design of a contemplation space at the Anderson Collection at Stanford University. The installation encouraged introspection and pause for students, passers-by, and visitors to the museum. The progression of arches provided a spatial transition from the campus into a more enclosed cocoon-like space that orients towards the sky. The course was a cross-disciplinary collaboration including students from Architecture, Structural Engineering, Product Design, and Civil Engineering. Students studied the structural capacity of 2 different densities of steel mesh, exploring how surface deformation (through warping, bending or folding) increased the strength of this everyday material. Layering the material enabled longer span arches, while creating a complex visual experience from within. The installation acts as a semi-transparent enclosure for the space, while offering filtered views of the campus to the users.