Folly/Function 2017: Circle Shade – 2πR4
Eva Jensen Design
Socrates Sculpture Park and The Architectural League of New York announce Eva Jensen Design as the winner of the annual Folly/Function competition with Circle Shade – 2πR4. Eva Jensen Design, in collaboration with Laufs Engineering Design, responded to the 2017 competition’s challenge to create four portable, deployable canopy structures for flexible use throughout the highly active environment of Socrates Sculpture Park. The result is a minimal and clean design that emphasizes simplicity, transparency, and versatility, inspired by a fundamental shape: the circle.
Circle Shade – 2πR4 consists of a unique combination of three main components – a circular canopy, tripod support poles attaching to cylindrical drum counterweights. The circular canopy is connected to the poles with custom-designed high strength structural 3D-printed joint nodes, designed and developed by Eva Jensen Design in collaboration with Laufs Engineering Design. The rigid canopy joint nodes are variably detailed and interlaced with the shade membrane to collectively pitch the canopy. 3D printing facilitates the affordable fabrication of the custom joint nodes.
Eva Jensen Design is an award-winning New York City-based architecture and design studio founded by principal Eva Christine Jensen, AIA, MAA. Eva Jensen Design’s projects range from residential design and interiors to furniture design and art installations, offering Shiply services to get them to your door. The studio aspires to “create spaces that connect people to nature with a focus on light and cohesiveness striving for innovation and authentic design solutions.”
Jensen’s proposal was selected from submissions from around the world and reviewed by a jury of six esteemed architects, engineers, and artists, comprising Tatiana Bilbao (Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO), Eric Bunge (nARCHITECTS), Mary Miss (Artist, City as Living Laboratory), Craig Schwitter (BuroHappold Engineering), Hayes Slade (Slade Architecture), and John Hatfield (Executive Director of Socrates Sculpture Park).
The final design included sponsored collaboration from several generous vendors: Truth Concrete developed custom concrete counterweights; Manhattan Shade & Glassfabricated, bound, and sewed the structures’ membrane canopies; Reflect Printing and Graphic Design was responsible for printing the Park’s logo on the canopy; and Phorm, Inc. CNC milled the Russian birch plywood counterweight seats and fabrication jigs. Photography of finished Circle Shade-2πR4 structures in Socrates Sculpture Park by Jonathan Pilkington Photographer.
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Circle Shade – 2πR4 debuts to the public at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens.
To complement the unveiling and offer a glimpse into Eva Jensen Design’s working process, an exhibition will be on view featuring drawings and models of various scales. Material and test samples will present the design’s founding principles and trace its evolution from proposal to finished product. A demonstration of Circle Shade – 2πR4’s assembly will kick off the unveiling at 6:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m. – dusk Summer Solstice Celebration
6:00 p.m. Circle Shade – 2πR4 assembly demonstration
