We have just begun another series of workshops focused on developing the next M&A installation. Our summer 2009 installation, Back to Basics, a rainwater-fed aquaoponic fish taco farm developed from the spring 2009 series of workshops, experiments, and prototypes, resulted in a unique and successful edible garden. This next installation will take the same communal design approach but develop through even more honed workshops and take on even greater challenges.

This system will not only be used for the fall M&A installation, but will also serve as the central conceptual approach for next year's M&A external exhibitions on other sites around town. These projects will be open to the creative and technical input of our volunteers. The opportunity exists to create a basic modular solution that we can modify for the three different sites we have been invited to build on. Similar to the previous installation, the design will be worked by the group, and so it is difficult to predict at the outset what the final form will take, but currently we see it as a canopy or arch that will use materials ubiquitous to our region.

This may mean a bamboo space frame leaving the building top and arcing gently to the ground, which uses found materials to create a skin and a connection system that requires minimal skill and provides maximum configurability. The goal is to create a system that can respond to the different parameters we will encounter at a variety of different sites. To do this, we will harvest and modify bamboo, create a connection strategy that becomes a structural system, hopefully we will achieve this with a minimum amount of material/weight resulting in a construction that is both functional and beautiful. Through materials testing and parametric design we will balance the livelyness of hand made work with the rigor needed for safe and effective public construction.

Our weekly workshops so far have included a talk on engineering systems by Matt Melnyk of Buro Happold and a talk on inflatable architecture by John Southern of UrbanOps and Dustin Feider of o2 Treehouse. More to come each weekend, join the volunteer list to be kept apprised of development or to join in the action.

Recently because of weather we have put the construction project in the M&A courtyard on hold (partially because the farm is still healthy and growing new food) and shifted our attentions to the off site builds. It is new for us to do construction in different places but we are excited by the possibilties. Please see the links on the right for more information about these new projects.

Let's build something beautiful.

Crew

This installation is being developed by Glen Kinoshita, Ramses Sorrel, Nick Paradowski, Michelle Paul, Elizabeth Pritchett, Hansley Yunez, Charles Chan, Christopher Ashe, Stephany Stamatis, Dan Gottlieb, Penny Herscovitch, Owen Gerst, Sam Starr, Otis Bardwell, Matthew Melnyk, John Southern, Christopher Alexanders, Jen Silbert, Dennis Dollens, Jen Fleming, Brian Janeczko, Oliver Hess and Jenna Didier... so far, you can join in the fun and learn new skills, email us.

• Information
• Archive
• Support M&A
• Proposals
• Research and Links
• Press
• Contact