optic clouds by predock frane architects

‘optic clouds’ by predock frane architects

‘optic clouds’ was commissioned for the material matters exhibition at the pacific design center as part of a curated architectural group show. a requirement of the PDC was to situate each fabricated object within existing spherical planters. 

developed by american predock frane architects, the proposal is a cohesive group of five ‘filament wound’ objects. formed of bulbous layers of intensely colored fiberglass lines, each object produces a variant shape and color model. working within the material domain of filament winding, our project applies ‘lo-fi’ techniques to a normally rigidly controlled fabrication technology. 

informed by aspects of ‘op-art’, cloud formation and animated sequences of explosions, the assembly of the objects re-thinks the formwork or ‘mandrel’. this normally static component is made dynamic by constructing it out of inflatable clusters that can be easily re-used and re-configured to produce a range of shapes and behaviors. like russian dolls, ‘optic clouds’ produces a nested, three layer set of clusters, each structurally connected to each other and each exhibiting a slightly different morphology (horizontally biased to vertically biased). color is introduced as an organizing and enlivening agent.

detail of an ‘optic cloud’

optic clouds at pacific design center

filament winding details

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