casagrande laboratory: sandworm at beaufort04

‘sandworm’ by casagrande laboratory, 2012 all images © nikita wu (巫祈麟)

casagrande laboratory: sandworm beaufort04, wenduine, belgium on now until september 30th, 2012

‘sandworm’ by finnish architect marco casagrande and casagrande laboratory (c-lab) is a sheltering structure made from willow branches and sand. the piece, built upon a sand dune in wenduine, belgium, has been developed to appreciate natural light and shadow, offering shade to beach visitors in its bio-material form. the installation is an organic shell built from willow branches woven through arches of various heights placed at a length of 45 meters and a height and width of 10 meters. ‘sandworm’ has been created in an undulating shape upon the tidal beaches of this belgian town. the architectural environmental art structure was developed by casagrande over four weeks through discussions with local experts in willow trees and his team of architects to develop something the artist describes as ‘weak architecture‘, meaning, ‘a human made structure that wishes to become part of nature through flexibility and organic presence‘.

casagrande’s ‘sandworm’ is on show as part of beaufort04: fourth triennial of contemporary art by the sea in 2012.

the ‘sandworm’ rests next to the seaside

visitors wander through the light-filtered space, sand exposed beneath their feet

interior perspective

the entrances and exits to the structure are both positioned towards the sea

images moving from one end of the winding spatial installation to the other

detailed perspectives picturing the willow-formed walls of ‘sandworm’

one of two entrances to the ‘sandworm’ beach structure

construction of the willow brance-formed space

building the sculptural installation

conceptual drawing of ‘sandworm’

hand drawn conceptualization of the ‘sandworm’ entrace

proposal of where the sandworm would make its home viewed in an aerial sketch over a google earth image

project info:

architect: marco casagrande design team: frank chen, yu-chen chiu, shreya nagrath, arijit sen project manager: nikita wu/ c-lab production coordinator: jonas vandeghinste crew: jaworski karol, pawel, lukas landa, jan tyrpekl , jan luxus, marco casagrande, nikita wu, santiago de waele

length: 45 m width: 10 m height: 10 m interior area: 320 m2 site: wenduine – belgium for beaufort triennial of contemporary art 2012