construction of new york city’s telescopic cultural complex the shed is progressing rapidly toward its official deployment this upcoming spring. the skeletal steel frame structure — which won THE DESIGN PRIZE 2018 public vote for social impact — is at last being fit with its anticipated inflatable skin. designboom took a tour of the site as part of new york’s eighth annual archtober festival, where designers from diller scofidio + renfro and rockwell group shed more light on the project’s development.

shed diller scofidio renfro rockwell group
the shed deploys out of the adjacent 15 hudson yards
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‘the shed’, a project by diller scofidio + renfro in collaboration with rockwell group, was conceived in the style of cedric price’s ‘fun palace’ of the 1960s as a situationally transformative multi-purpose space. responsive to a myriad of creative programs, the lightweight, telescopic structure can physically change at will. this transformative quality ultimately influenced the decision to clad the exposed steel diagrid frame in translucent pillows of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE). the durable and lightweight texlon-based polymer has the thermal properties of insulating glass at a fraction of the weight. a system of air circulation which accounts for temperature-based pressure differentials within each pillow further enhances the material’s durability. should the plastic surface be punctured, local air pressure is increased automatically, temporarily maintaining inflation until repairs can be made.

shed diller scofidio renfro rockwell group
the diagrid steel frames are being filled with pillows of ETFE
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on wheels measuring six feet in diameter, it takes nearly five minutes for the shell to move from being nested into the base building to being fully deployed over the plaza, covering a distance of approximately 115 feet. using roughly the same horsepower as a toyota prius, a rack-and-pinion drive moves the shell back and forth at a speed of a quarter of a mile per hour. as it deploys, the structure travels on a double-wheel track with wheels that are modeled after those typical of gantry crane technology. while a crane might be in constant motion throughout the day, the shed is predicted to deploy only once within the span of several days, ensuring the system a long lifespan.

shed diller scofidio renfro rockwell group
the skeletal framework remains exposed from the interior
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the multipurpose program of the shed is geared toward creative invention across all art forms. the curators take risks to present work that is enriching, accessible, and embraces science and technology. artists that are both established and early-career, local and international, will be able to experiment, collaborate, and explore new formats for connection and presentation. upon its opening in spring 2019, the organization’s first visual art commission will be a large-scale, site-specific work by lawrence weiner. fabricated with custom paving stones embedded in the building’s plaza, the 20,000 square-foot work is titled ‘in front of itself’ and will feature the phrase in 12 foot-high letters.

shed diller scofidio renfro rockwell group
wheels measuring six feet in diameter move the lightweight shed across the plaza
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shed diller scofidio renfro rockwell group
the shed is sited along new york city’s west side ‘high line’ park
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shed diller scofidio renfro rockwell group
the shed nests into the adjacent 15 hudson yards tower
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