La Cage aux Folles

We were invited to submit a proposal for an installation in the outdoor courtyard gallery of Materials & Applications [M&A] in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. We were asked to use and play with a specific material within an architectural narrative. Inspired by yurts, zoo cages, and bent-wire furniture, we developed an experimental bent steel tube structure entitled La Cage aux Folles which explored the craft of pipe bending in architecture and joins form, computational procedures, and fabrication processes. Using steel tubes, the installation explores the construction of parametric surfaces through variable fields of linear strands which simultaneously define a number of spatial conditions in synchronicity with structural needs. The tubes are organized in shifting and layered continuities, using bends to transfer loads and rigidify the structure at the same time as conveying a sense of space and form. The members are looped and variably arrayed through a generative algorithm we used with Rhino and free scripts available online. As each loop crosses others, connections are made to take advantage of triangulation while in others, space is made to turn inside out.

Once built, ‘La Cage’ actively engages the neighborhood by opening the courtyard to the sidewalk as a type of pocket park - providing a space for the community for both unscripted use and curated performances. We wanted to engage the neighborhood in the making of the piece as much as possible. We organized 13 volunteer workshops in the winter and spring which focused on all aspects of working with pipes. And in the summer we curated 7 performances incorporating music, performance, video, theatre, and dance. Public participation in the making and subsequent use of the piece was an important part of La Cage aux Folles as a project.