A wall that looks like breathing

"Kinetic Wall" by Barkow Leibinger at the Venice Biennale 2014 | Photo © Johannes Foerster

We are already familiar with the expression "walls have ears," but a wall that moves like a living organism, seeming to breathe, is somewhat surprising!

Designed by architects Frank Barkow and Regine Leibinger, from Barkowleibinger, "Kinetic Wall" is a prototype designed specifically for the Venice Biennale 2014, within the exhibition "Elements of Architecture," curated by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.

In the context of the exhibition, the prototype culminates an historical evolution of wall making as architectural elements, revisiting the utopian dream of an architecture that can move, kinetically, first realized in the 20th century through modernism.

The idea is to explore a new architectural dimension, creating a wall that mechanically moves inside and out, such as breathing motion from a living organism, through elements described by the architects as "peaks and valleys".

"Kinetic Wall" frontview by Barkow Leibinger at the Venice Biennale 2014 | Photo © Johannes Foerster

"Kinetic Wall" backview by Barkow Leibinger at the Venice Biennale 2014 | Photo © Johannes Foerster

The wall acts like a skin in which both sides are visible simultaneously by combining recycled natural and synthetic materials.

Surface (wall) movement is activated by a series of motorized points which extend and retract that transform an elastic (stretched) translucent synthetic fabric. The lightweight laminated timber scaffolding (space frame) is an anchoring framework for the fabric and houses the mechanical pressure mechanisms, which function as air diffusers, activating the surface.

Plan and Section - "Kinetic Wall" by Barkow Leibinger | Image © Barkow Leibinger

Configurations - "Kinetic Wall" by Barkow Leibinger | Image © Barkow Leibinger

The narrow passage near the wall ensures an immediate, intimate and bodily relationship with the viewer. The movement is digitally controlled, creating an interesting and constant choreography of these wall "peaks", allowing endless surface patterns which emerge slowly then recede and change, providing a unique artistic experience for the exhibition visitors.

"Kinetic Wall" by Barkow Leibinger at the Venice Biennale 2014 | Photo © Iwan Baan

When applied to buildings, such a mechanism could allow modulating ventilation systems to create an architecture that can move, kinetically.

A “Kinetic Wall” offers an alternative future, an architecture that is materially and spatially dynamic of both natural and synthetic/recycled materials.