Folly/Function 2018: RRRolling Stones

HANNAH

RRRolling Stones, winner of the Folly/Function 2018 competition | HANNAH, 2018. Credit: HANNAH

Folly/Function is an annual juried competition engaging architects to design and build a project for public use at Socrates Sculpture Park. The 2018 competition asked entrants to propose movable outdoor seating for the park.

RRRolling Stones, conceived by HANNAH, is a moveable outdoor seating system made from 3D-printed concrete. The designers exploit the standard ergonomics of a functional chair to create durable, movable outdoor seating. RRRolling Stones’ playful design encourages creative interaction and emboldens park visitors to configure them in original arrangements based on preference and need: linear benches of various lengths; in small clusters; or as solitary seats dotting the landscape.

The RRRolling Stones seating was prototyped and printed at the Cornell Robotic Construction Laboratory in Ithaca, New York. Computer-aided manufacturing allows for possible mass customization of similar but subtly tweaked forms. Executed in layers of a special cement mixture reinforced with nylon fibers, the seats’ striated surfaces reveal their incremental manufacturing process. During printing, the seats’ interior is supported with a bed of gravel, enabling the creation of their cantilevered forms. A layer of gravel remains imprinted on each chair’s interior surface, giving it a geologic character.

HANNAH is an experimental design practice for speculative and built projects across scales, addressing subjects of architecture and urbanism. The office, led by Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic, focuses on contemporary building practices and utilizes specialized novel material and fabrication methods.

The proposal was selected from a group of international submissions by a jury of leaders in the fields of architecture and design, comprising Allan Wexler, Artist; Chee Pearlman, Curator, Arts and Design, TED Conferences; Mark Yoes, Principal, WXY; Leon Ransmeier, Designer, Ransmeier, Inc.; Nick Koster, Project Manager, Snøhetta; and Jess Wilcox, Director of Exhibitions, Socrates Sculpture Park. The competition is directed by Jess Wilcox and Anne Rieselbach, Program Director, The Architectural League of New York.

Winner profile

HANNAH

HANNAH won the 2018 Folly/Function competition, which asked designers to develop chairs for Socrates Sculpture Park.

The making of RRRolling Stones

Notable entries

Events and exhibition

Support

Folly/Function, a partnership of Socrates Sculpture Park and The Architectural League of New York, is supported with a generous grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. Socrates Sculpture Park’s Exhibition Program is also supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Charina Endowment Fund, Paula Cooper, Mark di Suvero, Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation for Art, Agnes Gund, The Kayden Family, Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, Ivana Mestrovic, Nancy Nasher and David Haemisegger, Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan, Leonard and Louise Riggio, Silvercup Studios, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Smith, and Spacetime C. C. Special thanks to our public partners, including the City of New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Queens Borough President Melinda R. Katz, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer and Council Member Costa Constantinides, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, Commissioner Mitchell Silver, and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl.       

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