DESIGN TEAM:  Matt Fajkus, AIA, Garland Fielder, Travis Cook

MY ROLE:  Project manager, Lead Fabricator

TRIBEZA, an Austin Culture Magazine, hosts an annual event – Style Week – that culminates in a gala and runway show. MF Architecture designed, fabricated and managed the 2013 backdrop installation, which featured faceted surfaces and mapped projections. 

SPACE + SURFACE

The backdrop for the 2013 Tribeza Style Week Fashion show spans 32’ between two structural columns.  The geometry is generated by manipulating 3-demensional grid points and triangulating surfaces. The backdrop is constructed of painted 1/8” plywood panels and ¾” birch plywood structural ribs.  And duct tape.

SURFACE  + MAPPING

Anticipating projector location and resolution facilitated the digital capturing of projector views and view sizes.  This allowed subsequent manipulation of projected images that are aligned with the physical surfaces (projection mapping).  Simple, shifting patterns of black and white are projected, altering the perception of surface geometry.

REVERSE MAPPING

10 view points are established around the surface.  Using reverse projection – from viewpoint to surface and from surface to projector, the projected ‘distorted’ geometry required to provide a ‘pure’ perceived geometry from each of the 10 viewpoints was determined.

MORPHING ANIMATION

The 10 views are then loop-animated so that they morph into one another, from 1, through 10, and back again.  Thus, in theory, each viewer will get a brief instant where the text ‘snaps’ into its ‘pure’ geometry before distorting to the next position in its loop.