Onouye Studio | Sigrid Adriaenssens | 2019
Description
With a central theme of PERFORMANCE, 2018-2019 Onouye studio explored tension-based structures, through full-sized tensioned and draped nets, with the invited chair Sigrid Adriaennsens (Princeton University). With a generous material donation from net and rope manufacturers, this studio was able to explore the full-scale behavior of tensile materials in a large, interior atrium space of a building on campus, Gould Hall.
This studio not only investigated the structural behavior of tension systems, but also the active engagement of space through performative dance. The co-instructors of the studio partnered with a dance professor (Rebecca Lazier, Princeton University) to bring understandings of body, space, movement, and sequence to our design. The studio also partnered with the well-known fiber artist Janet Echelman and engineer Clayton Binkley, tapping their expertise and experience in both detail and form. For a final product, this studio produced a collaborative, full-scale installation in an interior atrium of our architecture building. This installation (with authorship shared among all 14 students) was designed as part of a public, choreographed performance by four professional dancers.
Balancing shared themes between structure and dance, this studio used tensile, structural form not only as a support for the body-in-dance, but as a fundamental part of artistic expression. The complex surface and volumetric geometries of nets and rope systems have powerful connections to efficient structural systems (often found in long-span roofs and bridges) but also suggest new understandings of spatial motion.
Chair Bio
Chair Lecture
UW Instructor
Tyler Sprague, University of Washington
Collaborators
Rebecca Lazier, Princeton University
Janet Echelman, Studio Janet Echelman
Clayton Binkley, ARUP Seattle
Performance Dancers
Rachel Lincoln
Christopher Ralph
Brian Lawson
Cori Kresge
Composer
Samantha Brosnack
Industry Support
John Neal, Diamond Nets
Kris Volpenhein, Samson Rope
Students
Adam Bichir
Juan Granados Borreguero
Elena Cortez
Elana Darnell
Mark Delpierre
Yuting Feng
Jess Kuntz
Steffen Pawlosky
Nick Portman
Kristin Ramsey
Anton Sagun
Daniel Vu
Lorryn Wilhelm
Zixiao Zhu
