Pop-Sci Core77 Design Challenge S p e e d - 1/20/03

Description of Design

Beautiful obstacle We need something to force, remind us to slow down. Sliding doors, an ubiquitous experience in urban life. Designed to be invisible, with the promise of an ever faster, efficient society, to speed up already hectic tempos. A purely functionalist design subverted to form a beautiful obstacle. The invisible made visible. Something poetic from something banal, mundane. The doors are thin panels of strong lightweight honeycomb aluminum. Infra red sensors concealed under the catwalk trigger pistons to open. Each unit is independent from the other but time lag effect creates an organic, peristalsis effect, an illusion of coordination. Units can be individually removed for repairs & grouped to any desired length. The structure is thrust onto the path of the commuter. It implores one to slow down & look at the world round us.