UNStudio and textile manufacturer MDT-tex have completed twisted, biomimetic design for the Amsterdam Light Festival 2016. Inspired by the theme of this year's festival 'biomimicry', the pavilions serves as both an attraction point and a ticketing/information booth for people visiting the festival.

Located in waterfront of Blauwbrug, Amsterdam, the design specifically refers to the deep sea world, where living organisms counteract the darkness of their environment by employing bioluminescence - often hypnotic pulsating light - as an attraction and communication mechanism. This magical vivid world formed the starting point for the sculptural, yet functional pavilion.

Called Eye Beacon Pavilion, two cubes are interlinked to each other with twisting surfaces. The double curved surface joining the two cube sections is created between two rotated lines of different lengths. 

This results in panels with uneven dimensions and therefore requires the parametric optimisation of these surfaces to ensure efficient design, fabrication and installation.

In partnership with MDT-tex, all surfaces of the pavilion are constructed from tensile textile modules that together create a pattern of openings and reveal glimpses of the interior. Focused LED projections present gradient color changes on the inside of the tensile structure, resulting in a constantly changing composition of light and colour.

Amsterdam Light Festival has started on December 1, 2016 and will continue until January 22, 2017. This is the fifth edition of the annual Amsterdam Light Festival. 

Over 35 artworks from international artists, designers and architects designed their own installations for the city of Amsterdam. Their artworks are located alongside two different exhibition routes; Water Colors, the boat route and Illuminade, the walking route. 

Project facts

Client: Amsterdam Light Festival
Location: Blauwbrug, Amsterdam, NL
Programme: Information and ticket booth for Light Festival walking tour
Max. height: 7.2 m
Length: 12.6 m
Envelope area: 230m²
Number of modules: 250
Axial symmetry
Status: Completed

UNStudio: Ben van Berkel with William de Boer, Rob Henderson and Piotr Kluszczynski

Partner:
MDT-tex: Markus Müller with R&D-Team led by Dr. Shankar Jha

Lighting Supply and Installation: Zumtobel
Lighting Content Consultant: Florian Licht, Licht & Soehne

All images © Janus van den Eijnden

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