In LA, a Zero-Gravity Dirigible

Architizer News

In LA, a Zero-Gravity Dirigible

June 24, 2011

Photo by Scott Mayoral.

It seems like a no-brainer, but all design is first and foremost based on gravity. The curve of a chair leg, the pitch of a roof, the profile of a mullion — all of these things are shaped, almost unconsciously, according the orientation of our bodies to the earth. Take gravity away, and you’re designing in a void, literally.

So, what does furniture without gravity look like?

A group of Silver Lake designers found out:

The proposal sprang from a competition on “defying gravity” held by LA research group Materials & Applications. Bureau Spectacular, led by Jimenez Lai submitted plans for the Phalanstery, and M&A decided the concept was worth testing. But how to actually carry out such a scheme? M&A Director Oliver Hess came across an old Fear Factor rotating mechanism in a salvage yard, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The structure itself was built by Nicholas Blake and M&A volunteers. To replicate zero gravity — otherwise know as the moment when”orthographic distinctions in drawings becoming obsolete” — it makes a complete turn every hour, meaning that every 15 minutes, one of the multi-planed surfaces becomes usable (also, once every 7.5 minutes, two people inside the module will fall into each other!).

Photo by Scott Mayoral.

Write Bureau Spectacular, “This installation grew from the hypothesizes that in zero-gravity, one can rotate in architecture and treat all surfaces as plans – i.e., walls, ceilings and floors. Without gravity, all surfaces can be occupied. The distinctions between orthographic drawings become obsolete. To this end, the installation is a structure rotating once an hour – at the same rate as a clock.”

The architects say their Phalanstery Module was inspired by a comic book Lai created, chronicling a spaceship carrying earth’s last survivors to a new world. Of course, the Module doesn’t actually replicate zero gravity – it replicates a series of moments which, together, would replicate a gravity-less environment. Which is actually more interesting.

The Phalanstery will be the subject of a book, out next year.