Liminal is an atmospheric spatial installation designed and built for Flow, one of the largest music festivals in the Nordics that brings together 85,000+ people over the three-day event.
YEAR: 2018
FILED UNDER: ACADEMIC, AALTO UNIVERSITY X FLOW FESTIVAL
CO-AUTHORS: MERVI ANTILA, MANUEL FONSECA, MEGAN MCGLYNN, MIIA PALMU
EXHIBITED: FLOW FESTIVAL / AUGUST 2018, HELSINKI FINLAND
PHOTOS: ANNI KÄÄRIÄ, MIKKO RASKINEN
TAGS:
#ARCHITECTURE, #SPATIAL DESIGN, #INSTALLATION, #EXPERIENTIAL, #ATMOSPHERES, #TRANSITION, #EPHEMERAL #CONSTRUCTION DETAILING, #TEXTILES, #MATERIAL FUTURES
Given that music festivals can often be chaotic, hyper-sensorial experiences, our guiding concept and starting point for the installation design was to instead construct a calm, atmospheric hideaway within the festival where visitors could unwind and recharge in between shows.
Our architectural shell for the installation was a temporary 20m long wooden structure that supported an atmospheric, delicate interplay between light and shadow. To playfully highlight this, we chose translucent fabric as our main material to serve as a blank canvas in a dynamic installation that changes throughout the day.
With hundreds of meters of lasercut fabric, our team also physically constructed the installation on-site prior to the opening. In support of the Flow’s commitment to sustainability, all details of our installation were designed to be fully recyclable at the end of its lifecycle at the festival.
Its name, liminal, refers to a moment of borderless transition, which was ultimately what the spatial installation aimed to be. At the festival, we noticed it became a memorable experience for many, serving as a very popular meeting point throughout the day for friends to reconnect and regroup before transitioning back out to the rest of the events.
A video compilation from Flow Festival on the project can be found here.
Previews from some of the construction drawings produced for the installation. Particularly with the fabric, we optimized the lasercut files to minimize waste.
The fabric arches were fixed to the rafters and floor with a simple rolling detail we prototyped beforehand that could withstand tears and rips from wind. This also allowed for a clean removal afterwards without damaging the material.
Depending on the time of day and exact weather conditions, the sunlight would interact with the installation to create dynamic compositions.
Lighting was included in the installation to continue the experience even after nightfall. To mimic the compositions created in the sunlight, vertical LED strips were fixed onto the rafters throughout the structure. Here in the center, there was a game, designed by another student, integrated into the installation where two players could “battle” one another by turning cranks as quickly as possible to change the color of the light strips.
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