Independent Projects Spotlight Series: Reparations in Public Space and Super Lightweight

This spring, The Architectural League will spotlight projects by recipients of the Independent Projects grant program in a series of lunchtime conversations exploring completed and in progress work. 

Presenters

Reparations in Public Space
Ifeoma Ebo and Antoinette Cooper
New York, NY
Independent Projects recipients, Grantee 2023-2024

A trauma-informed community engaged design process, this project will result in speculative design ideas for reimagining sites across New York City that hold trauma for Black people. Led by architect and artist Ifeoma Ebo and writer and participatory designer Antoinette Cooper, the work and resulting exhibition strive to change spatial narratives to transform spaces of trauma into spaces of healing and liberation. The project poses the questions: What does it mean to practice repair, and how do we reconcile spaces that hold the energy of trauma? What is the process of healing and how does it become articulated through the design of the spatial environment?

Super Lightweight: 2D CNC Welded Patterns for Self-Forming 3D Pneumatic Formwork for GFRC Fabrication
Duks Koschitz and Robert Brackett
New York and Lexington, NY
Independent Projects recipients, Grantee 2022-2023

This project used a Computer Numerical Control machine to explore the creation of 2D patterns for sheets of polyethylene, which could be welded together to create inflatable 3D pneumatic molds in hyperbolic paraboloid shapes. Using air pressure, the inflatable molds would support a complex formwork for casting and spraying glass fiber reinforced concrete shells and grids, producing architectural components and small-scale structures. The project resulted in large, architectural-scale model speculations that were exhibited at multiple research and environmentally-focused events throughout New York State, as well as a body of references and experimental techniques for producing pneumatic formwork that is designed to be super-lightweight and materially efficient.

Event details