This project is done in collaboration with research at Cornell Architecture.

Migration, though sometimes welcome, is often met with bristling resistance. Some bird species are well known for their seasonal migration to warmer climes and they too are, at times, met with various forms of resistance. On architecture, this bird-rejecting module is the birdspike. Goosebumps aligns the human’s migratory experience with the bird’s. A surface made entirely from birdspikes is woven into two cylindrical towers. Due to the inversion of the surface, the birdspikes’ direction shifts from pointing inwards to outwards. Approaching the pavilion, the visitor empathizes with the bird as it is rejected from its prospective perch. In 1987, Frei Otto presented “Single minimal surfaces with three rings of different sizes” in which the soap film finds the most efficient surface between the frames. Goosebumps adjusts the ring orientations to harness the structure and height of the existing lifeguard station and to accommodate inhabitation. Reminiscent of a pigeonaire, Goosebumps both welcomes and expels the visitor provoking thoughts on global migration.

Team: Xiaoxue Iris Ma, John Lai, Alireza Shojakhani, Juan Carlos Artolozaga.