Lightweight and compact, with a structural skeleton built of carbon fiber, the mobile structure for the first cycle of the BMW Guggenheim Lab has been designed by the Tokyo architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow as a “traveling toolbox.”
The structure’s lower half is a present-day version of the Mediterranean loggia, an open space that can easily be configured to accommodate the Lab’s various programs. The upper part of the structure houses a flexible rigging system and is wrapped in a semitransparent mesh. Through this external skin, visitors are able to catch glimpses of the extensive apparatus of “tools” that may be lowered or raised from the canopy according to the Lab’s programming needs, transforming the ground space into a formal lecture setting, a stage for a celebratory gathering, or a workshop with tables for hands-on experiments.
A series of smaller wooden shelters placed in close proximity to the main structure provide space for restrooms and a cafe. Whereas the main structure is forward-looking in its materiality and highly urban in its programmatic approach, the design of the restrooms and cafe references timeless timber construction that has been used in many settings, both rural and urban. Together, the wooden shelters and the main structure form a temporary 21st-century ensemble that in each city frames a particular urban void.
Design Architect
Atelier Bow-Wow, Tokyo, Japan
Principals: Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima
Project Team: Mirai Morita and Masatoshi Hirai
Fabrication and Structural Engineering
Superstructure and Installation: NUSSLI Group, Switzerland/USA
Structural Engineer: Arup, Tokyo, Japan
New York Design, Engineering, and Construction
Architect of Record: Fiedler Marciano Architecture, New York, USA
Structural and Civil Engineer: Arup, New York, USA
Site Preparation Construction Management: Sciame Construction Co., New York, USA