FANTASTS IN FOCUS: ARCHITECTS OF AIR
For the past two decades, Architects of Air have been constructing buildings from nothing but air, spirit, and light. Their luminaria have toured the world; forty-one countries to be exact. Known as “pneumatic sculptures”, the globular and polygonal miniature worlds are brought to life by their colourful interiors and the collective emotions of their visitors. They’re a fitting analogy for the body and soul dynamic, as pneuma in Ancient Greek signifies the “spirit”, a substance that some philosophers believed powered human beings and the cosmos. Engineer Alan Parkinson founded the company in 1985. He recently spoke to us about the background behind his creations.
The Custodian: Can you tell us a little more about the history of pneumatic sculptures?
A: Inflated structures have been around for millennia. In the pre-CE Middle East, inflated pigskins were used as flotation devices to go across rivers. Roman soldiers supposedly slept on inflated skins. Hot air balloons appeared in the 18th century and, early in the 20th century an inflatable mobile hospital was patented for use during the First World War.
In the fifties and sixties, with the increased availability of new plastic materials, there was a surge of developments in US, Germany, and Japan. There was much innovation, ranging from military applications through to purely artistic structures, which peaked at the “ultimate showcase’” of inflatable design, the 1970 Osaka World’s Fair.
There was, at that time, an idealism around the future of inflatable structures that was not to be fulfilled in the mainstream of design and architecture. However, inflatable structures found a niche in the counterculture spirit of the sixties and seventies and there were various innovators experimenting with structures in the arts and in the community.
I picked up my knowledge of inflatable structures in the early eighties, initially from Roger Hutchinson of Leicester Interplay community arts organisation near what became the Architects of Air base in Nottingham.
C: How long have you been an ‘air-bender?
If that term is a mutation from ‘metal-bender’ then it’s quite apt. What I do is very much like engineering – but the medium is sheet plastic rather than sheet metal. I’ve been doing it over 30 years now.
C: What’s the process of creating a luminarium?
A: We usually build one new luminarium per year in our Nottingham workshop.
The starting point for a design is to devise the footprint of the luminarium on the ground. This will be a labyrinthine layout that will afford maximum mystery and discovery when travelling through the structure. The footprint design must be founded on a general sense of how the three-dimensional forms can be realised in order to be sure that the footprint is viable.
Once a satisfactory footprint is achieved a detailed engineering analysis of the forms and template design can be undertaken. For inflatable structures to have smooth surfaces their shapes must follow the laws of physics as they apply to pneumatic structures. In simple terms, this means that the design process breaks down forms into volumes – i.e. cones, spheres and cylinders and their combinations.
Having achieved a viable 3D model of a structure on the drawing board or computer, the different elements are then flattened to create two-dimensional template drawings. These drawings will then be scaled up to make the hardboard templates that are used to cut out the plastic.
A luminarium takes about six months to complete with a workforce of six to ten people. The plastic is cut by hand using templates and is then glued together. The actual fabrication process is simple and does not require sophisticated equipment or highly trained workers.
C: What’s the inspiration behind the name?
A: ’Luminarium’ was chosen because I felt that these objects needed a generic term. I liked the sense of a ‘luminarium’ being a vessel for light in the same way an aquarium is a vessel for water.
C: What would you say are the most common reactions to the luminarium experience?
A: Generally people will say that it was not at all what the expected. They’ll be pretty open-mouthed at the surprising experience of light and colour and will struggle to find analogies to frame their experience. The best one that encapsulated it for me was the person who said he found the structure to be “somewhere between a womb and a cathedral”.
C: Do Architects of Air have any permanent exhibitions, or do all of their sculptures go on tour?
A: All the luminaria are designed to be ephemeral. It is part of their appeal.
C: What’s on for this year–anything in the UK?
A: Nothing planned in the remainder of this year, but next year there is sure to be an exhibition somewhere in the UK. As bookings are confirmed they are posted on our website. Potential visitors can also contact us at info@architects-of-air.com to be put on our mailing list.
