Flexible YET Rigid - Interactive Installation - Department of Architecture -Texas A&M

Flexible YET Rigid is an Interactive Installation presented at University of Houston in the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (NCBDS 31).
To link materials with processes and processes with form, the installation presents a project executed by first year students at Texas A&M. By searching for the limits of the use of wood, this installation aims to bring two contradictions of wood together: rigidity and flexibility. Thus, the goal is to transform lumbers into flexible yet rigid elements. These pieces are flexible enough to be formed into different shapes, yet rigid enough to retain the desired shape. The installation was sculpted from flat pieces bent in unexpected and organic ways to challenge what is conventionally expected from a piece of wood. This installation explores form and space via a range of woodcut techniques for cutting slits into solid wood. To explore the elastic nature of wood, compression or other forces can be applied to create the desired curvature. When these forces are removed, the pieces spring back to their original shape.
Faculty: Alireza Borhani + Negar Kalantar
1st year Students:
Raymond Cruz Corona Gonzales
Stephen Grant Parker
Ashley Elizabeth Just
Rebecca Haylea Bond