ArchDaily announced the winning proposal for the Young Architects Program (YAP) MAXXI 2012 in late February. In order to bring you full coverage of the annual competition, we are featuring the other four creative designs that competed against UNIRE/UNITE. NAMI, which means “wave” in Japanese, is a project that reflects contemporaneity, aims to send a message about the importance of harmony, and to create a bridge between people and cultures. This proposal, designed by VeryVery Architecture Office, is very simple and essential: an airy space provided with shadow, movable sitting benches, and a space that can accommodate different types of events and activities. Imbued with an experimental spirit and a strong attention to sustainability, NAMI offers a chance to express the social and cultural values requested by the Young Architecture Program.
*This project description was provided by VeryVery Architecture Office.
2011 was an annus horribilis. We believe the complex crisis that hit Japan has changed our perception of life forever. A terrible earthquake, a devastating tsunami and the concrete risk of a nuclear crisis have left many troubles behind. Yet, that terrible event offers a chance to reflect once again about the relationship human beings have with nature. Moreover, flocks of birds are a perfect metaphor of contemporaneity as their behavior and variable conformation are similar to that of the collective intelligence. Certainly, they remind us of the dynamics of the digital era and of the internet.
NAMI is conceived of as a flexible and polyvalent space that offers room for sitting, relaxing, and promoting sociality. Its scenographic and comfortable space accommodates all the activities offered by the MAXXI museum during the summer season.
Different types of benches−sliding and low seats−are distributed to make optimal use of installation space. Visitors can move the sliding benches according to their wishes, either to sunbathe or to lie under the shadow projected by the hanging elements of the flocks. The low seats can be used as visitors wish, and are tagged with a RFID label that prevents them from being stolen. The surface of the seats is covered by an anti-shock material on which people can safely sit and relax. The space of the installation is accessible from many sides, and a ramp for wheelchairs guarantees the access to everyone.
A looping path contours along the entire installation ground. The loop is covered by synthetic grass 4 cm in height. This loop path is conceived especially for kids and for their fun. As the movements of a flock of birds are the fruit of collective intelligence, so are the multiple spatial configurations offered by this installation.
NAMI has been designed as a generator of sociality. It virtually connects the MoMa in New York and Constructo in Santiago, Chile, and by doing so creates a network of social and cultural relationships between distant countries.
The potentialities provided by the internet and by new technologies are used to virally diffuse NAMI. Our proposal contemplates the creation of a website called “MAXXI-Blog” which will be accessible through a QR code called MAXXI-QR.
Materials have been selected tactfully. Each one of them is either a recycled material or a recyclable one. All of them are made in Italy. The main idea is to think the installation as part of the life of the material used to make it. In Japan, impermanence is present in every aspects of life. We like to bring that aspect of Japanese culture in the materials we use in our project: they were used for different purposes before being used for the installation, and once the installation will be dismantled, they will be used for some other different purposes. NAMI aims to be an educative installation that demonstrates the enormous potentialities of recycled materials.
Furniture is accurately designed and ready to be made. Through the use of parametric software, it will be possible to reduce the construction of NAMI.
