Completion Date:     4/19/2014

Square Footage:      600

Building Use:           Installation

Location:                 Newport Beach - Civic Center Park

Project Description:

BEGINNING
The RFQ announcing a two-year long installation of a project in the new park at the Newport Beach Civic Center came at the perfect time for our project, La Cage aux Folles which had just finished its exhibition in an outdoor courtyard architecture gallery located in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. We decided it would be great to experience the small piece of architecture in a landscape nearly opposite in character from that of its first installation. In Silverlake, we developed the relationship between the courtyard of the gallery with the space of the sidewalk as a pocket park and used the La Cage as a social condenser which helped draw people to sit, climb, and relax among its many curves.

FOLLY
In Newport Beach, we used the enormous, wide open space of the park to draw on the historic European idea of the architectural folly set within large gardens as a way to punctuate the landscape and as a space of rest: architecture as a landmark to help orient you and as a foil in perpetual dialogue with nature.

MULTIPLICITY
We were interested in informal inhabitation and use at a small scale but also that of a neighborhood. Our first iterations were inspired by the Mongolian yurt: a structure comprised of a multiplicity of small wooden rods joined together to create a sturdy form. Each element of the composition becomes a participant with numerous roles to play: shape, structure, shear, ornament, pattern, and history.

FROM LINE TO FORM
Using a generative algorithm in Rhino and free scripts online, we organized lines into shifting and layered continuities, using bends to transfer loads and rigidify the structure while also inducing space and form. We articulated fields of linear strands to form parametric surfaces which ultimately allowed variable spatial conditions in synchronicity with structural needs.

FLEXIBILITY
For La Cage aux Folles, we wanted to work with an environmentally friendly and ultimately malleable material so the project could be reimagined and reconstructed in various settings with minimal negative impact. While aluminum or plastic could also have lent itself to the design, we chose to work with Schedule 40’ Steel Tube because of its decreased environmental footprint and its ability to be easily recycled for new uses – either for a new iteration of La Cage or melted down and returned to the commercial sector.

PHILANTHROPY
The generous donation of grants, material, and labor allowed La Cage aux Folles to be built. We received grants from five national and local nonprofit agencies. All of the steel and the paint were donated as well. Most importantly, throughout the process more than 50 people - responding to social media communications - volunteered to help fabricate La Cage aux Folles.

We are proud to have had the possibility to put our small architectural project in such a wonderful setting.

C.O.T.E. | Committee on the Environment

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