Independent Projects Spotlight: Reparations in Public Space and Super Lightweight

In this video, architect and artist Ifeoma Ebo and writer and participatory designer Antoinette Cooper talk about their project Reparations in Public Space. 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 Ebo and 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 is it articulated through the design of the spatial environment?

Duks Koschitz and Robert Brackett present Super Lightweight: 2D CNC Welded Patterns for Self-Forming 3D Pneumatic Formwork for GFRC Fabrication. This project used a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine to explore the creation of 2D patterns for sheets of polyethylene that can 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.