Phalanstery Module
Jimenez Lai

Running till September 2008

This installation grown from the hypothesizes that in zero-gravity, one can rotate (in) architecture and treat all elevations as plans - i.e., walls, ceilings and floors. Without gravity, all surfaces can be occupied. In essence, the distinctions between orthographic drawings become obsolete. To this end the installation will be a large constantly rotating structure which visitors will be able to approach and use differently every time.

The installation is inspired by a comic book Lai created to assert commentaries regarding the Broadacre City-- a 1932 Frank Lloyd Wright vision of a Utopian city where each family own a one-acre agrarian plot and commutes by private automobile. Wright never really took into account that space and natural resources are limited. We are witnessing such an impact today. Wealthier citizens have fled cities for sprawling suburban sub-divisions. Downtown cores are left to the poor, and cities are becoming increasingly ineffective in controlling energy consumption. Lai takes Broadacre City to outer space. Flipping it on its side and making it an Ark are ways he signifies that resources are finite. It is a world where every man (gets) a dwelling unit and every man (gets) a pointlessly boring job... until the citizen dies.”

Artists

Phalanstery Module was designed by Jimenez Lai, a designer, a comic book author and currently is the LeFevre Fellow in the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University.

This installation was built by Nick Blake, Peri Shefik, Stephany Stamatis, Arianna Lapenne, Blair Ellis, Linda Wei, Mishal Hashimi, Lily Sparks, Brian Janezcko, Paul Adam, Deus Xavier Scott, Nan Wolman, Eddy Sykes, Joanne Bloomfield, Dan Gottlieb, Kaveh Arbab, Libby McInerny, Linda Graveline, Samantha Gottlieb, Emmanuel Gonzalez, Elizabeth Anderson, Kellene Kaas, Jimenez Lai, Josh Avina, S. Bennett, Daniel Stehr, Tulay Atak, Janine Sanchez, Lance Wilson, Alberto Miyares, Coco Conn, Jenna Didier and Oliver Hess.



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M&A Founder Jenna Didier speaks on the "(R)evolution in light, form and materials" panel at the Dwell on Design Conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center.


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