On a breezy October evening, de Labbers gathered in the SCI-Arc parking lot for a tour of Netscape, the incredible temporary pavilion designed by Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu of Oyler Wu Collaborative. Dwayne and Jenny were commissioned by the school, where they both teach, to create a structure that would comfortably seat 1000 people for the fall graduation ceremony.
As the sun began to slip lower in the sky, Dwayne and Jenny explained how, with the help of 15 SCI-Arc students, they had transformed 45,000 square feet of rope, 6,000 feet of steel and 300 square feet of jersey fabric into a canopy that could gracefully shade the crowd in the early September sun.
The structure was actually knit using traditional techniques, with the students creating giant 4o-foot looms in the parking lot to make the panels of rope. The steel trusses were welded together and assembled with the help of two forklifts. The louvers, which are made from the same material as sports jerseys, were placed at the exact right angle to completely shade the structure at the moment the ceremony began.
We got to watch as the shade crept over the parking lot, right on schedule. A huge thanks to Jenny and Dwayne for taking the time to guide us through their creation. You can read more about Netscape and watch a short video about the process over at Fast Company's Co.Design.
Afterwards we walked down the street to Wurstkuche for our own mini-Oktoberfest, complete with rattlesnake sausages, truffle fries, and big old goblets of beer.
Mmmmm, beer. A few more photos are over at our Flickr group! If you have any, you can add them there.
