Article source: Skylar Tibbits
VoltaDom is an installation for MIT’s 150th Anniversary Celebration & FAST Arts Festival (Festival of Arts, Science and Technology), that populates the corridor spanning building 56 & 66 on MIT’s campus. This installation lines the concrete and glass hallway with hundreds of vaults, reminiscent of the great vaulted ceilings of historic cathedrals. The vaults provide a thickened surface articulation and a spectrum of oculi that penetrate the hallway and surrounding area with views and light. VoltaDom attempts to expand the notion of the architectural “surface panel,” by intensifying the depth of a doubly-curved vaulted surface, while maintaining relative ease in assembly and fabrication. This is made possible by transforming complex curved vaults to developable strips, one that likens the assembly to that of simply rolling a strip of material.
- Architects: Skylar Tibbits
- Project: VoltaDom
- Quadrant EPP Plastics: Kress Schwartz
- Philips, Color Kinetics: Fernando Matho & John Warwick
- Software used: Rhino + Python