Architecture
Project: The Good Life - new public spaces for recreation
Program: Exhibition design, Design-Build
Location: Pier 40, New York
Team: WORKac with ProjectProjects
Year: 2006
"The Good Life: New Public Spaces for Recreation" was an exhibition staged in an outbuilding at the end of Pier 40 in the summer of 2006. It was the Van Alen Institute's largest and most ambitious exhibition in its history, and the first one held outside of their space on 22nd Street. It featured 70 projects, urban parks, interventions and buildings from around the world, displayed on video screens. The projects were divided into five themes: The Fun City, The Healthy City, The Cultured City, The Connected City and The 24-Hour City.
The design utilized a single gesture "the wiggle" - to create a series of environments for the 5 themes, along with spaces for the events and the lounge. The wiggle was created from a 300-foot long sinuous band of fabric, alternating a bright yellow canvas with printed vinyl panels containing information graphics. The band of fabric doubled in on itself to create the "rooms" and became taller or shorter to create transparency or to accommodate program, such as the information desk. The fabric was suspended from the ceiling using off-the-shelf hardware and the exhibition was built for an aggressive budget of $40,000.
