the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons art basel miami beach
what was a once proudly overbearing structure is now replaced with something much more self-effacing - reflecting the changing values of miamians today in response to the bursting of the real estate bubble.
the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons art basel miami beachimage © designboom
at art basel in 2005, florida-based architect luis pons presented his visionary ‘fabulous floating inflatable villa’ – a billowing structure seen offshore in miami as commentary on the egoistic ‘mcmansion’ culture of contemporary american society of that time. following seven years of a palpably shifting real estate climate, pons re-introduced the piece as part of miami design district inventory project with ‘the deflated villa’ during art basel miami beach 2012 in a completely new context – the antithesis of its predecessor. where the ‘inflatable villa’ critiqued the blindness of uninspired grandeur, the latest iteration enters into a continued dialogue of societal behaviour, however, now, focusing on the vulnerability and fragility of the human spirit in response to the plummeting values of homes – a bursting of the real estate bubble. what was a once proudly overbearing structure is now replaced with something much more self-effacing, shrunken to reflect the changing values and attitudes of miamians today.
following seven years of a palpably shifting real estate climate, pons re-introduced the piece in a completely new contextimage © designboom
what was a once proudly overbearing structure is now replaced with something much more self-effacingimage © designboom
where the ‘inflatable villa’ critiqued the blindness of uninspired grandeur, the latest iteration focuses on the vulnerability and fragility of the human spiritimage © designboom
image © designboom
luis pons explains the projectvideo courtesy midtown now
‘the deflated villa’ by night
‘the fabulous inflated villa’, miami 2006
the structure in 2005
sketch of the deflated version
