Weaving is found to be a widely used skill/method to produce fabric in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. There are a lot of different ways to weave which corresponds with a lot of cultures and places like Islam, Europe, America and also Maori.
With further investigation of weaving, there seems to have some similarities with architecture with overlapping concepts. In the process of designing, architects and weavers both recognise the need to look beyond surface appearances. Weavers understand that the quality of a textile is dependent on the structure of the weave and not just the visual appearance of its fibers as architects realize that quality design is more than skin deep.
“Surface quality of material being mainly a quality of appearance, is an aesthetic quality and therefore a medium of the artist; while quality of inner structure is, above all, a matter of function and therefore the concern of the scientist and engineer. Sometimes material surface together with material structure are the main components of a work; in textile works for instance, specifically in weavings or, on another scale, in works of architecture.” -Anni Albers, a weaver from the Bauhaus
The concept is then expanded into three-dimensional spaces that reveal the interwoven experience of architectural space and construction. They examine the overlap of light and shadow, solid and void, all within the aspect of movement in time.
“When we move through space with a twist and turn of the head, mysteries of gradually unfolding fields of overlapping perspectives are changed with a range of light-from the steep shadows of bright sun to the translucence of dusk.” -Steven Holl
This is somewhat related to the quote from the short story “The Ultimate City’, “Bright sunlight filled the streets picking our the vivid colours of the wild flowers growing in profusion from the creacked sidewalks. Despite these embellishments, the city’s character had begun to change...”
So the weaving creates a sense of lighting effect as it gets shone through the texture, presenting a pattern of repetitive graceful moment. As well as having some kind of spatial quality, the woven surface being enclosures.
One interesting project that has been designed by David Garcia is the ‘weaving pavillion’. He came up with the first facade, roof, column and foundation to be built without nails, screws, or even glue. This has a very close relationship with what we are trying to do in this studio which is not using ‘glue’ and ‘cardboard’ and I have realised that we can actually achieve this through ‘weaving’ and ‘knitting’.
