The finished pop-up plaza was visible from the highway and surrounding tall buildings. Pink Cloud was meant to be ephemeral and was dismantled 12 hours after it was created.
We decided to use the “pool floaties” because it is lightweight and pliable. Our team explored various uses and methodology to create an outdoor public space.
Components
We used ropes to fasten the floaties to the building and trees and zip ties to fasten the floaties to each other.
Methodology
Ropes strung from the building facade to the trees were carefully tensioned to form a light structure for the canopy.
Preparation
The architect’s office was awash in inflated pink floaties for several days as the team assembled the canopy in pieces prior to installation.
Assembly
The team experimented with assembly methods, adjusting the rope tension and the distribution of zip ties several times.
Assembly
The team experimented with assembly methods, adjusting the rope tension and the distribution of zip ties several times.
Discarded concepts
The team had explored multiple ideas before choosing to develop the canopy.
Pink Cloud
The finished pop-up plaza was visible from the highway and surrounding tall buildings. Pink Cloud was meant to be ephemeral and was dismantled 12 hours after it was created.
Pink Cloud
Miami, Florida | 2018
COLOR is a signifier of Miami: think pink flamingos, Arquitectonica’s Pink House and Christo’s wrapped islands. Colors proliferate in Miami, from the wall surfaces of Wynwood to vibrant stuccos found across the city. Color is associated with play, with sunlight and intensity, with the tropics. In the built environment, fashion, art and recreation, color is employed liberally.
Our office selected magenta (RGB 255 0 255) as an identifier in 2010. We like magenta because it is joyful; it represents harmony and self-respect, the balance between spiritual and the pragmatic. We use it both as object and as field. For this installation we chose a neon pink, close to magenta on the color spectrum and with strong connections to Miami.
PINK CLOUD (255 0 144) used 186 everyday pool floaties, 550 zip ties and 1,200 feet of common clothesline to create a light structure that transformed a parking lot into an informal public space. By day, it filtered sunlight through its rosy membrane and open donut holes. At night, it provided a brilliant porous ceiling.
Pink Cloud was designed and later assembled in a single day during Art Basel week. Pink Cloud was meant to be ephemeral and was dismantled 12 hours after it was created. On the following day, all floaties used were donated to Camp Kesem. Kesem is a nationwide community, driven by college student leaders, that supports children through and beyond their parent’s cancer, at no cost to families.
Designer: Shulman + Associates
Photographer: Emilio Collavino
Awards:
2019 AIA Miami Merit Award / Urban Design