Windswept is an installation designed by American artist Charles Sowers on the façade of the Randall Museum in San Fransisco. Hundreds of spinning blades reveal the invisible patterns of the wind. It consists of 612 rotating aluminium weather vanes mounted on the outside wall of the museum. If the wind hits the wall, the aluminium blades spin independently, indicating the localised flow of the wind and the way it interacts with the building.
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Amazing, Dominique. It remembers me about The Arabic World Institute in Paris with a 'Venetian blind' like a Islamic decoration. "It is, however, an ocular device of striking originality, made up of numerous and variously dimensioned metallic diaphragms set in pierced metal borders. These diaphragms operate like a camera lens to control the sun's penetration into the interior of the building. The changes to the irises are dramatically revealed internally while externally a subtle density pattern can be observed. Thus the whole effect is like a giant Islamic pierced screen, giving significance and an audacious brilliance to this remarkable building."
ReplyDelete(Dennis Sharp. Twentieth Century Architecture: a Visual History. p394)
I'm pleased you like it.
ReplyDeleteL'institut du Monde Arabe is a beautiful building with also a fascinating facade, designed by Jean Nouvel.
Did you watch the video? You can hear the wind playing in the lamellas. Architecture is amazing, isn't it?