"Party Wall" wins MOMA Young Architects award

The New York based design team at CODA has won this years Young Architects Program (YAP) prize awarded by the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1. CODA's Caroline ODonnell submitted the winning Party Wall proposal a freestanding pavilion and "flexible experimental space" which uses water filled fabric containers for ballast and is clad in off-cuts from the manufacture of skateboards.

The competition brief challenged emerging architectural talent to develop "creative designs for a temporary, outdoor installation at MoMA PS1 that provides shade, seating, and water." Environmental issues such as sustainability and recycling must also be considered in the designs.

The Party Wall installation will provide shifting shaded areas for music enthusiasts by using a vertical steel structure in contrast to traditional horizontal shading. The freestanding structure that will be ballasted by water bladders suspended on the inside. These bladders are called pillows which will be filled on site and lit up at night to give the entire structure a luminous glow.

The frame will be clad using manufacturing off-cuts from eco-friendly, Ithaca-based skateboard manufacturer Comet. Dubbed "bones," these off-cuts will be woven together to form an imperfect and porous facade.

A shallow stage of reclaimed wood will be featured around the base of the wall, whilst 120 panels can be detached from the vertical structure to form benches and tables that can used for various scenarios: "not only the pool party, the dance party and some architectural tourists, it can also accommodate lectures, classes, discussions, dining, performances, film screenings and even, perhaps, a wedding," says CODA.

The wall spells out its function as part of its design when viewed from the outside, but the interior will serve as an aqueduct for the MOMA PS1 visitors. Water ducted via the third floor of the PS1 building will replenish a series of pools and cooling stations through a gravity-operated system. A stream of water will flow along the top of the wall and be projected out into a fountain that feeds the pools and a misting station using a pressure-tank. Like the movable benches and tables from the Party Wall skin, the pools can be adapted and covered according to function.

Located in Long Island City, MOMA PS1 has been hosting a YAP installation at in its courtyard for fourteen years. The latest offering is set to open in late June and will feature as part of the temporary urban landscape for the 2013 Warm Up music series.

The other finalists for this years MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program were: Leong Architects (New York, NY, Dominic Leong, Chris Leong); Moorhead & Moorhead (New York, NY, Granger Moorhead, Robert Moorehead); TempAgency (Charlottesville, VA, and Brooklyn, NY, Leena Cho, Rychlee Espinosa, Matthew Jull, Seth McDowell); and French 2D (Boston, MA, and Syracuse, NY, Anda French, Jenny French).

Sources: CODA, MOMA PS1

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"Party Wall" wins MOMA Young Architects award