Marc Fornes / Theverymany has completed “Pleated Inflation” a new permanent installation located in Argeles-Sur-Mer, France.
Following in the footsteps of projects such as their “Vaulted Willow,” the design is the latest in what they term their “structural shingle” group of projects, made up of pleated aluminum sheets which – thanks to the firm’s computational design technique – simultaneously serve as the project’s structure, enclosure, and its primary architectural component.
Commissioned as part of the French 1% Artistique program by the Region Languedoc Roussillon, the project serves as an informal amphitheater for the students at Lycée Christian Bourquin, “bringing together structural performance and spatial experience” with its “ornate shadows cast from porous structural pleats.”
“The design was developed through custom computational protocols of structural formfinding, descriptive geometry, and stress flowdriven porosity. A 2D network of lines as a footprint inflates and expands in the air, resulting in a voluminous space created with minimal lightweight material.”
“Once inflated, the design is tessellated through a process of agentbased porosity, articulating a continuous ‘pleated’ surface of 990 intricate aluminum shingles, each pleat lends structural depth, thinning the required profile of each panel. The skin meets the ground on 26 base plates. Following digital fabrication, the parts were installed over the course of ten days by a team of four.”
Location: Lycée Christian Bourquin, Argeles-Sur-Mer, France
Media: 3mm Aluminum, thermolaquage
Dimensions: 21’ H x 46’ W x 33′ D
Commissioned by: Region Languedoc Roussillon