See-Through Clay Brick Installation
Science just keeps finding ways to make the most solid of materials suddenly permeable to light and/or sound- aluminum, wood, even concrete, but bricks beat them all by a long shot for sheer simplicity: all one has to do is turn them on their side!
This curved-wall art installation by Mab Architects takes a timeless piece of construction history and flips it on end, testing limits beyond solidity and reliability as a building material.
The result is rather fascinating even if they weren’t the first to consider standing masonry units on their sides – depending on the angle of view, various colorful patterns appear via lights projected on the exterior. Shadows of people can be seen, or messages constructed and shot through the slotted openings.
“Plinthos pavilion is a room that breathes. Visual transparency created by the perforated brick wall, becomes the channel of interaction between the visitors and the structure. A constant background sound-scape and an expanding RGB light communicate through the wall, transforming the structure into a living organism in which the visitor is completely involved.”
“The interactive mechanisms are engaged by touching or shaking stem light fittings installed in the floor. A camera records the movement of these fittings and transmits it to a computer. The computer transforms the visual signal into frequencies and finally translates them into a visual and audio installation.”
“Each of the stem light fittings triggers a distinctive interplay of sounds recorded from the pavilion construction phase and affect the color changing lighting performance. This generates layering of interweaving media reactions that engulfs the visitor from multiple directions and let him/her become the performer and the observer at the same time.”
