Yesterday, MoMA PS1 announced that HWKN had won this year’s Young Architecture program, the king-making pavilion series held at the Queens museum every summer. The firm has released some striking renderings of their pointy project, called Wendy. The pavilion is all high-tech, too, using “nanoparticles” that make it “pro-active,” according to HWKN.
Wendy does not play the typical architecture game of ecological apology – instead she is pro-active. That is why Wendy is composed of nylon fabric treated with a ground breaking titania nanoparticle spray to neutralize airborne pollutants. During the summer of 2012 Wendy will clean the air to an equivalent of taking 260 cars off the road. Wendy’s boundary is defined by tools like shade, wind, rain, music, and visual identity to reach past the confines of physical limits. Wendy crafts an environment – not just a space. Spikey arms reach out with micro-programs like blasts of cool air, music,
water canons and mists to create social zones throughout the courtyard.
Intriguing. But good luck pulling that off on the Young Architect’s notoriously stingy budget.