oyler wu collaborative designs a woven steel cube for the beijing biennale
parallel 2d wireframe compositions connected by transverse lines within a rigid simple shape creates a shape understood on different levels based on the spectator's distance.
‘the cube’ by oyler wu collaborative, beijing, china
image © jason wheeler
all images courtesy of oyler wu collaborative
‘the cube,’ an installation designed and built for the 2013 beijing biennale by los angeles-based oyler wu collaborative is a geometric axiom intended to be read and understood as the basic shape it is while challenging perceptions of what actually makes up the form. the 16 meter-tall construction consists of a three dimensional woven tapestry of rope within parallel orthogonal metal frames, and offers a radically different experience the closer one gets and is able to dissect the filigree membranes that form sinuously organic webs within the rigid envelope. as an exercise in the potential of the line, the interior of the cube exhibits a dynamic layering of transparencies and creates voids that meander through the stringed maze. views are focused not only on the project as a subject but through the structure itself as an illuminated filter that changes based on the spectator’s perspective, broken down into almost infinite scales as viewers approach the project or revolve around it.
the design stemmed from six simple frameworks of 3 meter-spaced square steel profiles- each one containing a two-dimensional line composition made of rope. on the transverse axis, lines weave through the established compositions connected various points and adding depth, cavities, and walls to the space. the planes at some point break through the cube and serve as supports hoisting the object into the air at a precarious angle.
image © jason wheeler
in the architect’s words:
‘by using a semi-repetitious field of twisting “surfaces,” the scheme moves back and forth between complex field and coherent geometric object. ultimately, we’re interested in the transcendence of line into a completely engulfing experience- one that can be occupied as a kind of three-dimensional drawing. this ambition is aimed at creating an evolving experiential effect- where one’s understanding of it from the outside in moves from a geometrical object, to a sense of enclosure, to a dynamic field of shifting trajectories.’
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
image © jason wheeler
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project info:
project team: dwayne oyler, jenny wu, lung chi chang, dustin columbatto, eric lalone, huy le, shawn rassekh, sanjay sukie, yaohua wang
structural engineering: nous engineering, matt melnyk
lighting designer: lux populi
photography: jason wheeler, lam kaiming lin
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