Significant Structures

Solid Construction (Load-bearing) Structure:
Igualada Cemetery
Architects: Enric Miralles and Carme Pinos
Location: Barcelona, Spain.
Completed in 1994.

 The Igualada Cemetery in Barcelona is a relatively new cemetery designed to be different from most other cemeteries set in a field. While most traditional cemeteries set the focus on the arrangement and organization of the burial plots, this one is more about the experience of them.

 The Igualada Cemetery does not just allow those who have passed on to be buried, but it also allows space for the families and posterity of those buried to reflect on those who have been buried. The winding path through structure is meant to flow through the burial site, transitioning the patrons from the open hillsides to the close, intimate location of the graves.

 All the materials and structures in this project have been thought out thoroughly by the architects. At the entrance, as the path to the burial site begins, there are tall, steel posts that serve as gates, but also resemble crosses, bringing the guests into a sacred ground.

 The material for the structure in the cemetery is aged concrete, stone and wood. It was the architects' intent to give the whole project an aged look, as it is meant to not bring too much attention to itself and any flashy materials, but rather the humility and somberness of the cemetery.

 I chose this structure because I thought it was a great example of a load-bearing structure that was not in a tall, traditional building. By being completely solid construction, though the actual graves for those who have passed are above ground, it is as if it is no different from being in the firm, solid, earthy ground. The whole project is poetic of life and death. The hills surrounding the cemetery are abounding with life and joy, but it all leads back to the cemetery. The concrete walls and burial sites show the firm, definitive end: death. Everything else in between the

walls of the cemetery and the hills is the pathways, smooth and winding, quick to change at any moment. The design of the walls also creates an implied enclosure of the place, despite it being an open-air environment. This separates the hills of life from the monolithic cemetery walls, bringing the patrons into the somber environment of the project.

 And now for something completely different:

Inflatable Structure:
Spacebuster
Architects: Raumlabor
Location: Berlin, Germany, and wherever else it travels! In most of these photos: New York City.
Year Completed: 2006

 The Spacebuster is a portable pavilion that is an experiment in design and function. Able to fit 80 people once it has been fully inflated, the Spacebuster can be used for any number of events, from concerts to charity dinners, or from a kitchen to a party venue.

 One of the most useful structural qualities of having a relatively formless structure, other than the material being inflated, is that it can be flexible towards any surroundings. For instance, to the right is the Spacebuster being used in a park, while above it was used as a dining hall under a highway overpass. It does not need to be rebuilt to form to these surroundings, it simply adjusts by its flimsy, inflated plastic membrane.

 The Spacebuster's transparent structure allows normally private activities, whether it be a five-star dinner, or an intimate ballroom dancing night, to no longer be closed off from public eyes. Though in an enclosed space, it brings these intimate, personal experiences out to the public's view. Each location that is selected is with intention by the drivers, choosing places that seem to have lost their public functions from the city. Creating this space in this "outdated" environment gives the Spacebuster a new purpose: bringing back to life a location that was once thought to be dead.

 The Spacebuster works by keeping the plastic, inflatable material folded into what has been dubbed "the box" by Raumlabor. This box serves as an entrance to "the bubble," where the actual inflated plastic is. There is a fan in the box that constantly pumps air into the bubble, keeping it inflated, and at a climate pleasant to all those inside. The box and the bubble, when deflated and stored into the box, can be easily housed in a large van, as shown below.