Fluxo Rosa

Fluxo Rosa in Morelia, Mexico by Plasma Studio, 2004

One of Architectural Record's Design Vanguard 2004, London-based Plasma Studio uses folding as a means to create progressive designs, from interiors and exhibition design to (hopefully) buildings. Their installation at the Instituto Cultural de Michoacan is a perfect example, made all the more apparent by its relationship to the "host space".

As seen in the top image, the installation makes itself known by protruding into the courtyard, disrupting the repitition and consistency of the existing colonnade. A gap between the new and the old allows entry to the exhibition space. The plan illustrates a certain rotated symmetry or inversion, the exterior portion "interiorized" about the middle of the five structural bays.

In addition to the ideas of new/old and in-between, the architects use vision and framing as important concepts to be reconsidered in their design. Starting from the street level, peep holes give passers-by a glimpse of the exhibit through small posters on the windows. This idea of controlled views is followed through to the folded pink, fabric wall. Here the idea is strongest because the small openings sit in the larger colonnaded openings, serving as a reinterpretation of inside/outside and architectural framing.

Fluxo Rosa was a collaboration with Silvia Escobedo Ortiz, Luis Fernando Mora Serrano, Zirahuen Joel Ayala Mora, the students of the Facultad de Arquitectura de la Universidad Michoacana (Isaac Bocanegra Garcia, Getzemani Alcantar, Victor Manuel Arroyo Villalobos, Arquimedes Zarza Lopez, Pedro Alberto Ramirez Vargas) and many others. The installation opened in Spring 2004 with a dance performance by ELI.