hongtao zhou’s inflatable installations breaks boundaries at tongji design week

interdisciplinary scholar and artist hongtao zhou uses inflatable installations to penetrate historical buildings during tongji design week in an effort to encourage people to break boundaries in art and design. the installation explores the unique spatial qualities of shanghai’s old bus repair station (now D&I’s innovation field) and tongji museum’s historical building by empowering inflatable structures to shoot out, break through, capture, squeeze, and contain entries and spaces. 

external side view of the installation

zhou‘s inflatable installation animates the inconspicuous space through manipulation, emphasizing changes and creating movements to provoke thought and criticism on the evolving urban environment and the endless desire of space in big cities. the installation respects the historical buildings by doing no physical change, but instead, adds visible air flows to twist, connect, and blend space from both the interior and exterior.

the installation respects the historical buildings by doing no physical change, but instead, adds visible air flows to twist, connect, and blend space from both the interior and exterior

the ever changing installation gives the audience an opportunity to witness the creation, expansion and penetration of space. by observing the dialogue between architecture, materials, weather, and other visitors, users can experience the space transition, material behavior, and the organic forms of our living spaces by participating in them.

rear roof

elevator well

lobby

main gallery

students interaction

the building’s entrance

group walk within the inflatable installation

inside the inflated space

‘meeting cancelled’

student lounge

project info:

participants: zhihao li, lujia peng, man xu, ling lin, xiaoxiao duan, xi ling, zehui ye, chufei liao, meng fang, hongqiang ge, guoyi zhou, ying zhang, haiyan huo, shuiqun zhang, minxuan wang and marcos cruz ortiz

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.