Welcome To Wonderland II
Year:
2022 - 2023
Status:
Conceptual
The idea was showcased at the 2022 Silicon Valley Sculpture Exhibition in Atherton, California.
Reference:
Project Type:
Public art
STRUCTURAL DESIGN
Welcome to Wonderland celebrates nature through the whimsical surrealism of a large-scale biome. All living things, whether plants or animals, need structure to survive and thrive within the environment they live. Evolution, through eons of time, has generated, through trial, error, and mutation, almost ideal and optimized structural systems for the flora and fauna of earth, in response to each species’ particular environment. Bringing Wonderland to life requires no less of an effort, though because there is now a designer, time and trial and error have been replaced with design thinking, algorithms, and focused creativity. The structural system of Wonderland is a fusion of traditional framing integrated with an organically geometric composition of support for the flora. An organic structural frame springs from the traditional to emulate the stems, sepals, and styles of the flora. This biomimicry provides for a seamless integration of the structural system with the artistic vision.
AR CREATURES
Not only is the floral sculpture itself fantastical, but it is home to a variety of brightly colored AR creatures who magically appear throughout the space. In the image shown here, the AR app creates movement and playful surprises for all children and even adults to enjoy.
ORIGAMI-INSPIRED
In order to proceed to “Welcome to Wonderland II”, I began to review the design of each floral piece. As a starting point, this project draws its inspiration from origami experiments. Origami “paper folding” has taken root in traditional Japanese culture and it is popularized broadly as an activity for kids. I also played with origami in my childhood and taking this retrospection allowed me to realize some captivating qualities that I may be able to apply to this project.
Folding abstracts original floral geometry into something else. It becomes simplified with linear expressions, but it also remains formal complexity. It is arduous to accurately fold paper by hand, and also materials generally have thickness unlike ones with zero thickness in digital modeling software. Although these cause imperfection, this project sees potential of design in the undesirable states and aims to transform those into its design characteristics.
MODULE
Digital Translation from Origami Experiments
