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MoMA PS1’s summer Warm Up series has always been more than an artsy rave, flowing with cold beer and presided over by some of New York’s premier DJs. It’s an also a showcase for the latest in architectural design, thanks to MoMA PS1’s Young Architects Program (YAP).
This year’s winner, selected from a group of five finalists, is Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation, whose project, titled COSMO, resembles a series of interconnected baskets or nets made of retractable plastic mesh. It’s filled with 3,000 gallons of water, which will constantly be purified and re-purified in cycles lasting four days. When each cycle is complete, COSMO will light up like an exotic luminescent jellyfish in the ocean depths.
Now in its 16th year, YAP commissions a temporary outdoor pavilion/installation each year in the MoMA PS1 courtyard to provide “shade, seating and water” during Warm-Up, while also working within “guidelines that address environmental issues, including sustainability and recycling.” It’s been a boon for firms that are just starting out, since architecture is one of the few fields which rewards age and experience. YAP allows architects who still a considerable ways off from their first major projects a chance to strut their stuff.
COSMO will be mounted on wheels so that it can move in “whatever direction the party happens to take it,” as MoMA PS1 puts it. Wherever that may be, COSMO will surely be party central.
RECOMMENDED: Full guide to MoMA PS1 Warm Up
