floating catwalk

mit Tabea Däuwel und Simon Stahnke

Berlin 2010

There is an urge to exhibit fashion in Berlin. Instead of putting up cheap tents on historic squares, we propose a ship that can be moved to various destinations. May it be meeting young Berlin labels at Mediaspree or showing up at Museumsinsel to host renowned Fashionweek.

The focus lies on the interior and the production of a dramatic atmosphere. The spectator descends to a sub-sea-level to find a seat on the bench alongside the giant catwalk.

The light materiality of fabric is counterposed by a space completely surrounded by rough steel, locking up the soft and volatile. The roof blends both, giving steel a curved, rather fabric-like look. It is the heart of the design. It serves as a light catcher or sun protection and also works as a reflector and rain shelter. Various different lighning possibilities are made possible by the revolvable steel elements. They are double curved and thus have their biggest opening right above the catwalk, giving it most of the light while shading the seats. Sunlight is used by day while spotlights illuminate the roof during nighttime. They are also built in the roof elements and again, numerous ways of lighting are enabled by the position of reflectors and spots.

The shape of the reflectors is the final result of a long optimization process. It derives from many digital and non-digital models. First tests were done by cardboard models under real light conditions. Later we generated various shapes according to self-determined parametres with Grasshopper®, a program made for parametric modeling. After finding the final geometry, we cnc-shaped a mould and had many concrete elements casted. 
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