Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of stories highlighting the five J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize installations in the Exhibit Columbus exhibition opening with a ticketed gala dinner and preview party Aug. 20 and running through Nov. 28.
One of the more unconventional Miller Prize-winning installations for the Exhibit Columbus exhibition will feature data in the cloud, of sorts.
That will include everything from carbon dioxide readings to pollution levels.
Such is just one element of Ecosistema Urbano’s high-tech Cloudroom set for the Central Middle School property in downtown Columbus. The pop-up architecture will consist of an inflatable “cloud” over top of a wooden structure as a kind of outdoor classroom and social gathering space for students and others.
The design firm, based in Madrid, Spain and in Miami, is known for its design projects with a strong environmental bent in locales as different as Norway, Florida or Bahrain in the Middle East.
“We didn’t know at the time that we were designing this how all that involved with the (COVID-19) virus would evolve,” said Belinda Tato, who launched the firm in 2000 with partner Jose Luis Vallejo.
But the outdoor nature of it makes it seemingly makes it perfect for a time such as this, according to the design duo.
Cloudroom will feature illumination within the inflatable that will dramatically change colors to reflect various environmental qualities. The aim is to raise awareness among visitors and users about their immediate environment. Videos also can be projected onto it.
Tato and Vallejo are working with fabricators Ignition Arts of Indianapolis and Landmark Creations of Burnsville, Minnesota, to create the installation. Landmark is handling the inflatable portion that will be tethered nearly 12 feet off the school lawn and will span 50 feet wide, according to drawings.
The company set up the inflatable Monday in Minnesota. Anna Jungers, a sales staffer at Landmark, feels sure people will be impressed once it gets to Columbus sometime next week.
“I’m sure the students and staff will experience a collective awe,” Jungers said.
“We know the kids will love it,” said Central Middle School Principal Jay Payne when plans were first unveiled in March.
Tato mentioned that, during the design process, online conversations with Central students have left her in a sense of awe of their overall awareness.
“They were so smart, so intelligent, and so empowered,” Tato said, adding that they were quite familiar with diversity and ethnic issues and much else from today’s world. “I was deeply impressed. They were very well-spoken, and I was truly inspired.”
The firm has done inflatables for everything from The Grammy Awards to trade shows to schools.
Since 2000, Tato and Vallejo’s work has been nationally and internationally awarded on more than 30 occasions. In 2005, Ecosistema Urbano received the European Acknowledgement Award from the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction.
In 2006, the firm was awarded the Architectural Association and the Environments, Ecology and Sustainability Research Cluster award. In 2007, the two were nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture/Mies van der Rohe Award for emerging European architects. They were also selected out of more than 400 teams from around the world to receive an AR Award for Emerging Architecture in London in 2007.
Though the installation was designed primarily for warmer weather, Tato said she feels it still can be used during November’s chill. If nudged a bit, Tato will acknowledge that the piece also represents a kind of sky-high optimism.
“We believe in the idea that much of the future is connected to our younger generation,” Tato said. “So we have a very positive and hopeful approach toward that future. That is part of the message imbedded in this.”
A bit more about the designers
The work of partners Belina Tato and Jose Luis Vallejo has been exhibited in galleries and museums and covered by press around the world, garnering numerous awards. The founding partners have led workshops, lectured, and taught at the most prestigious institutions worldwide, including working as professors at the Harvard Graduate School of Design since 2010.
For more about Exhibit Columbus, visit https://exhibitcolumbus.org/.
