The City of Parasols serves as both an analytical and speculative model for configuring public space. Inspired by Paredes Pino's Centro Abierto de Actividades Cuidadanas, the model explores the material configurations within the site's undulating canopy of brightly colored parasols. Coming in five different heights and diameters and six different colors, the parasols become an interlocking catalog of material possibilities, with each potential configuration offering a unique space under which to gather. The model uses LED lighting and translucent acrylic components to cycle through this catalog of sizes and colors, exposing the logic and patterns hidden within the site's playful arrangement. With 69 moveable pieces and a grid of nearly 500 programmable LEDs, the model then becomes a design tool for exploring any number of alternative configurations, providing an animated visual reference for the choreography of future potentialities.
Left | Aerial view of the Centro Abierto de Actividades Ciuadadanas in Córdoba, Spain. Right | The Centro at dusk, showing the light patterns created by the parasols at night. [Images courtesy of ArchDaily}
Original detail catalog of parasols at different heights, diameters, and colors. [Image courtesy of Paredes Pino Arquitectos]
Arduino Testing
Testing the Full Light Board
The Laborrrratory
Materials Testing (Polypropylene Sheets)
Materials Testing (Acrylic Rods)
