pareidolia in the park

Pareidolia: the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern

Location: Queens, NY

Date: Spring 2019

Competition: Folly/Fuction (Results upcoming)

Description: A competition entry completed with Annika Schneider. Pareidolia merges our interest in creating architecture that performs socially, responds to users, and digital fabrication. Entering a sculpture park is a chance to slow down and allow you mind to perceive more. Our proposal is a way to awaken your perception through it’s familiar yet alien form. Is it a flower? A clam? Or maybe a succulent? It’s indeterminate form allows the mind to read into the form meaning. A mental hors d’oeuvre for what is inside, the kiosk preps the palette for the rediscovery of what is inside the sculpture park.

The parameters of this project offered a series of challenges within the design, so that the kiosk could move and open with the evolution of the park. What it meant to us, what that the kiosk must embody the creative nature of the park and be able to withstand the everyday and the future use. Since the kiosk was to be moved, Pareidolia was designed as an entity that could engage with visitors of the park, wherever it stood. This kiosk is meant to be viewed from all around. From afar the closed kiosk is a curiosity to the visitor. When approached, it an information spot, a meeting point and moment of rest. The sturdy closed shape offers park information on its side and secure storage. A visitor can take a brochure from the display and then lean against the kiosk to read it. This easily identifiable object becomes the symbols of the park and of the water. When the kiosk opens, the volunteers can sit comfortably inside, protected from the rain. Upon closing time, the kiosk can be locked, with all the contents inside.

The kiosk had a strict weight requirement as it needs to be picked up and moved at a later date. It was designed to be constructed from milled geofoam and coated in fiberglass like a surfboard for an incredibly lightweight structure. The extreme lightness of the construction led us to need to run wind modeling to make sure that even in 100 mph winds the structure would not be lifted off the ground when open. After testing we found we needed to add more wood to the base.