long island city NEW YORK

IK Studio (Mariana IBAÑEZ & Simon KIM) is pleased to present Torqueing Spheres at the Socrates Sculpture Park. Commissioned by the park and the Architectural League of New York, Torqueing Spheres is a geometric and material folly of domes.

exhibition: IK Studio, “Torqueing Spheres.”
Sunday, 05/17 (opening) // Socrates Sculpture Park
32-01 Vernon Blvd.
Long Island City, NY 11106

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Each dome follows an undulating, diminishing line along the East River, ranging from adult to child-size. The plywood is shaped by a particular cold-bending method, without the use of steam or kerfing. Assembled into domes, two properties emerge: sound reflected as echo, and movement of the panels from humidity and weather. As the fibres in the wood absorb and lose moisture over different weather conditions, the bent panels are predefined to close and open in their particular directions. This continues a research strain of IK Studio in compliant mechanisms and soft robotic systems. The overall affect is a series of reciprocating, atmospherically responsive shells.

Supported by: PennDesign; Harvard University GSD; Immersive Kinematics; and RAIR.

Credits: Chris Johnson; Iman Fayyad; Charlotte Lipschitz; and Ben Ruswick.