Canopy – MoMA/P.S.1 2004 Young Architects Program

The winner of the fifth edition (the sixth for those who also count the project by the Austrian collective Gelatin from 1998) of the Young Architects Program in 2004 was the New York duo nARCHITECTS. This competition, held annually in collaboration with MoMA/P.S.1, provides an opportunity for young and emerging architects to gain visibility. The newly designed outdoor courtyard of the gallery then serves as a venue for the summer concert series Warm Up.
The nARCHITECTS pavilion named Canopy is another in a series of “urban beach” projects. The only construction material chosen by the architects was freshly cut green bamboo woven around wooden moles, water play areas, mist clouds, and sandy beaches for sunbathing visitors. The color of the canopy will gradually change from fresh green to yellow-brown by the end of summer. Different strengths in the bamboo lattice create a wide palette of densities and patterns. “Craters” in the bamboo canopy delineate spaces opening to the sky. Each of these elliptical islets has a distinct climate and requires different ways of lounging: “Pool Pad” - the largest of the proposed outdoor spaces, which incorporates a water play area; “Fog Pad” consists of water jets dispersing a cooling mist halo; “rainforest” features a soundscape and water mist intermittently cared for by rain showers; and “sand mounds” are semi-open ellipses oriented to tilt as much as possible toward the sun.
The finalists of the fifth year of MoMA/P.S.1 YAP were the following architectural firms: Griffin Enright Architects, Michael Meredith, SERVO, and DegreZero Architecture.