Southwest independent architect crossover, chaos image

From April 6 to June 14, 2021, the A8 Design Center presented Shore Two Kilometers: the 2021 Cross-Disciplinary Jurassic Exhibition of Southwest Independent Architects along the water of Luxelakes in Chengdu. Thirty-one independent architects built experimental installations along the lakeshore, cross-pollinating public art and exploring architects' modes of self-expression while investigating the publicness of the first-phase waterfront. Xiaoyin Architecture was invited to present its Imagery Architecture practice through an art installation. Position 30, next to the Cloud Playground, is a high-traffic triangular site at the water's edge, surrounded by open views and already a popular photo spot. The design principles were set early: safety, transparency, fusion, interaction and playfulness. Against the global uncertainty of the pandemic year, the team chose to explore emotional expression, developing the concept Chaos Imagery. Chaos lies between controllable and random, with determinate causality yet no predictable calculation; all matter in the universe is in chaos, fragments that nevertheless follow logic and assemble into wholes. Human emotion is one expression of chaos. The team divided emotional imagery into five categories: person-society, person-self, person-person, person-nature, and person-life. Polycarbonate hollow sheets were chosen for safety, light weight and translucency, in six profiles that produce blur, solid-void, filter, dissolve and diffuse effects; mirrored stainless steel accents reinforce the chaotic atmosphere. A suspended city image splits the site, and scattered stacked cubes evoke a city, a building, a home, a tiny life. The Filter cube frames views of playfulness, contemplation and shadow play through a 300-mm aperture. Three Dream cubes encapsulate the common dreams of being lost, falling and flying, in red, yellow and blue representing different life stages. The Home installation uses a Penrose triangle of ten cubes on a white slope, revealing different domestic scenes through three apertures. The Nature box frames a green valley with a seated elder on a cloud. The Air box magnifies microscopic particles in air as a meditation on pandemic-era life. Installations at 300, 400 and 600 mm heights support sitting, leaning and holding; some 300-mm cubes contain movable play objects. The exhibition was curated by Na Na and Deng Qiao, produced by Liang Rui of A8 Design Center, and designed by Xiaoyin Architecture.