Binary Spectrum
Architecture Small projects Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
11 Images
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1. Binary Spectrum 01 The porous installation breaks the triple-height lobby into a thousand different interstitial spaces, creating a more immersive experience for visitors. 5792 px 8688 px 26 MB A3 print |
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2. Binary Spectrum 02 5792 px 8688 px 20 MB A3 print |
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3. Binary Spectrum 03 When viewed from various perspectives, new patterns and shifts in geometry emerge. When looking straight through from the upper floors, the installation’s red-and-blue binary gradient is revealed. 5792 px 8688 px 29 MB A3 print |
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4. Binary Spectrum 04 The seemingly floating discs are anchored by tiny teardrop-shaped plumb bobs, their weight creating layers upon layers of overlapping straight lines. 5792 px 8688 px 21 MB A3 print |
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5. Binary Spectrum 05 8598 px 5661 px 35 MB A3 print |
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6. Binary Spectrum 06 Comprised of 8,000 translucent discs, Binary Spectrum is a poetic expression of Kitchener’s remarkable industrial shift, from manufacturing to a leader in the digital economy. 5792 px 8688 px 26 MB A3 print |
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7. Binary Spectrum 07 Second floor visitors find themselves immersed in a matrix of gently undulating colourful discs. 5792 px 8688 px 24 MB A3 print |
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8. Binary Spectrum 08 6720 px 4480 px 11 MB A3 print |
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9. Binary Spectrum 09 6720 px 4480 px 15 MB A3 print |
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10. Binary Spectrum 10 4480 px 6720 px 12 MB A3 print |
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11. Binary Spectrum 11 4141 px 6187 px 19 MB A3 print |
Description
Once a major hub for manufacturing, the Kitchener-Waterloo region is now a hot spot for Canada’s growing tech communities. With newly opened offices of Yahoo, Google, and other major tech players as well as hundreds of start-ups, the area located an hour’s drive from Toronto is home to one of the fastest-growing economies in the country. Kitchener’s downtown core alone, comprised of converted warehouses and new buildings, has proven to be attractive for new businesses and satellite offices of major companies based in Toronto.
For the lobby atrium of one of these new buildings on King Street, Dubbeldam Architecture + Design created Binary Spectrum, a site-specific installation that embodies ideas drawn from the region’s rich history of manufacturing and its transformation to a burgeoning tech hub. Rising three stories, it is constructed from 8,000 coloured discs of varying diameters suspended from 650 wire cables. “Binary Spectrum explores the yin-yang relationship of tangible fabricated object (manufacturing) with a representation of the intangible digital realm”, says architect Heather Dubbeldam. “The repetitive discs suggest digital processes and fractal patterns found in science, and are used to create a spatial effect with a human scale.”
The atrium is transformed into a dynamic environment where visitors can experience the installation’s kinetic properties. As people move in and around the space on two levels, the vertical cables softly sway, bringing the sculpture to life and reflecting the buzzing energy of the building’s inhabitants. Myriad patterns can be viewed from different perspectives and provide a new sensory experience with each angle – whether seen from the exterior, from below or adjacent on the upper floor, visitors can engage with the installation in unique ways. Comforting in their familiar shape and colours, the suspended circular coloured acrylic discs fill the space and draw people in from the street. The contrast created by two ends of the colour spectrum is softened through the gradient between them: warm reds and cool blues merge and resonate with the lobby furniture, specifically sourced to coordinate with the installation’s bluish tones. The faceted furniture is arranged for spatial effect, to create a defined resting space within the larger lobby and a multiplicity of vantage points from which to view the installation.
Details
| Completion date | 2021 |
Project team
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Dubbeldam Architecture + Design |