Follies - Sou Fujimoto

“It was during my uni days,” the Tokyo-based architect said Thursday during a conference at Paris contemporary art fair FIAC. “I was fascinated by the beauty of the sights, almost shocked.”

This week in the Jardin Tuileries, ostensibly the front lawn of the Louvre, Fujimoto erected a new installation to coexist with the various centuries-old sculptures dotting the Catherine de Medicis-founded garden.

“Many Small Cubes,” 2014, marks the architect’s first work in Paris, and the launch of Paris gallerist Philippe Gravier’s “Small Nomad House” series, commissioned demountable follies that down the line will include works by Claude Parent and Ricky Ricciotti. The TK-foot-high structure consists of a matrix of steel supports cladded with sheets of anodized steel. According to Fujimoto’s vision, the resulting cluster of 16 or 30-centimeter-tall floating cubes (the same dimensions as the strikingly similar 2013 Serpentine Pavilion) would offer a fragmented shelter to the dwelling area meant to go inside, as well as staggered levels of integrated furniture garnished with a few potted trees here and there.

© Marc Domage

“It’s not quite finished,” though, Fujimoto explained. “It’s too heavy to be nomadic,” and at the moment is behind a sign that says “Please do not touch or climb.” While he and Gravier fine-tune the details, the non-nomad, non-house “Many Small Cubes” is at least a sculptural gem. The aluminum surfaces create colored light and shadow compositions that shift throughout the course of the day, orange at dusk and dawn and bright white during moments of intense sunshine. During our visit on a partly cloudy day, the shades of white and gray would transform minute by minute in response to the varying sun exposure. At night they become something else entirely, the canvas for French lighting artist Patrick Rimoux’s projections.

Shots taken a few minutes apart. Instagram by @janellezara

For the more architecturally and less artistically inclined, “Many Small Cubes” gives Paris a succinct introduction to Fujimoto’s vision of unity and integration between various opposing themes: geometric and organic form; simplicity and complexity; and above all, nature and architecture.

The transparent 2010 House NA in Tokyo. “It’s surprising, but they like it,” Fujimoto said during his conference. “Even for me, it’s too open to live inside.” Photo © Iwan Baan

The 2013 Serpentine Pavilion © Jim Stephenson

“For me, both have similar fundamentals,” Fujimoto said, “and I treat them as equals.” A clear continuation of his previous works, including the ephemeral Serpentine Pavilion in London or 2010 House NA in Tokyo, the small right-angled units, which Fujimoto actually refers to as the “artificial geometries and orders,” assemble to create a single organic, amorphous form. These cloud varying densities erases the hard line between the exterior and the interior. “It’s a gradient situation.” Fujimoto explained. “It lets nature inside.”

Fuente: http://architizer.com/blog/sou-fujimoto-launches-new-french-follies/