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.

the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons   art basel miami beachfollowing seven years of a palpably shifting real estate climate, pons re-introduced the piece in a completely new contextimage © designboom

 

 

the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons   art basel miami beachwhat was a once proudly overbearing structure is now replaced with something much more self-effacingimage © designboom

 

 

the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons   art basel miami beachwhere the ‘inflatable villa’ critiqued the blindness of uninspired grandeur, the latest iteration focuses on the vulnerability and fragility of the human spiritimage © designboom

 

 

the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons   art basel miami beachimage © designboom

 

 

luis pons explains the projectvideo courtesy midtown now

 

 

the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons   art basel miami beach‘the deflated villa’ by night

 

 

the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons   art basel miami beach‘the fabulous inflated villa’, miami 2006

 

 

the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons   art basel miami beachthe structure in 2005

 

 

 

 

 

the deflation of the inflatable villa by luis pons   art basel miami beachsketch of the deflated version