Irenebrination readers know that we are fans of Samira Boon's work. The Dutch architect, textile and accessory designer has been intensely researching innovative fabrics, designing a variety of experimental products and textiles characterised by an architectural twist and a strong tactile power.
We were therefore very happy to hear that the studio's collaboration with Tilburg's TextielMuseum/TextielLab, Theaters Tilburg and the University of Tokyo won at the end of June the Best Interior Design Collaboration Project at the Creative Heroes Award 2017.
For this collaboration commissioned by the Theaters Tilburg, Samira Boon re-designed the interior of the Audax Room. The latter is employed for various events, from small gatherings to public meetings, and needed a dynamic flexible infrastructure that could still be visually eye-catching.
Boon moved for this idea from her studies on the 3D woven Super Folds and then integrated in the project her achitectural Archi Folds.
As you may remember from a previous post, the Archi Folds are the result of a long and extensive research that combined traditional and complex mathematical folding techniques, Japanese origami and digital weaving skills to create architectural interventions.
Archi Folds can indeed be transformed, folded and unfolded, creating geometrically intriguing shapes.
Being so adaptable, the Archi Folds allow to easily reduce a room to an intimate space or maximise its capacity.
Studio Samira Boon integrated in the Audax room seven sculptural objects made with this technique employing a fire retardant material that is also resistant to UV: it takes about five minutes to completely extend the Archi Folds items, and this allows the performative value of the building to be extended from the stage area to other rooms and spaces.
"You can constantly give this object a different look, I always get the feeling as if I'm walking through an art work, while at the same time it is a very functional space," stated in a press release Rob van Steen, director of the Theaters Tilburg.
There are now in store multiple appointments for Samira Boon: first and foremost she is working on a series of architectural textiles to be installed in the auditorium of the cultural complex designed by More Architecture, on Jiaxing Island, China. The studio is also working on redesigning the interior of a Montessori School in Amsterdam (Samira Boon also worked a while back on developing a fun toy for kids and grown-ups alike, so this project may help her designing more educational toys). In September the textile mural "10800 Horizons" by Studio Samira Boon will also be part of the "Holland Boulevard" project by Next Architects at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
If you're a fan of Studio Samira Boon's projects you will certainly be happy about its recent achievements, but the most intriguing thing about the award it recently got is the fact that the textiles incorporated in this project are the result of a very technical and innovative engineering process. Boon carried out a long standing research on yarns, on the bindings and on the software that had to be developed to create the folding structure. The prize proves therefore that working hard on innovative researches is a valid path to pursue - dear architecture, fashion and design students, you'd better take note.
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