This outdoor art installation is also a giant water purifier

This enormous structure rises over the courtyard walls of New York's MoMA PS1 and passersby couldn't help but gaze. But what is it?

It's called COSMO, a mobile artifact composed of interconnected pipes, tubes, and liquid tanks, created by Spanish architect Andrés Jaque and his firm Office for Political Innovation. Basically it's a giant water purifier capable of filtering and purifying as many as 3,000 gallons of water over a four-day cycle. When each cycle is complete, the contraption's plastic mesh will glow, providing a backdrop for PS1's summer parties.

The structure, which took home the grand prize for this year's Young Architects Program Competition, can remove suspended particles and nitrates, balance the pH, and increase the level of dissolved oxygen.

"More than 2 billion gallons of water circulate every day beneath New York City," said the firm. "Cosmo is a movable artefact, made out of customised irrigation components, to make visible and enjoyable the so-far hidden urbanism of pipes we live by."

Aside from being a portable water-filtration plant, COSMO also serves as a seating, shading and cooling structure. The outdoor art installation will remain on view at MoMA PS1 until September 6, 2015.

[h/t: Dezeen]

Comments

The Adorable Sculptures of Yen Yen Lo

These images are from a series of wall sculptures created by Yen Yen Lo . Here you can see her intricately textured ceramic pieces, looking downright adorable. Yen Yen Lo's eye for the unique and whimsical is delightful. Apparently they are not intended for kids under 16. Fifteen-year-olds cannot be trusted with fragile stuff. Get them a Funko Pop instead.

The Art of Nicola Samori

Does Nicola Samori ever underwhelm? The Italian painter and sculptor caught my attention some two years ago, when I stumbled upon his work on Artsy . Samori creates dark, Baroque-inspired oil paintings by layering and fusing images on canvas, wood or other objects. His work stems from fear, and his process involves "skinning" his painted figures with a palette knife or thinner and painting over the surfaces multiple times to achieve deep-seated results. "Peeling off the faces make it possible for all the neglected parts of a representation to come to light and, as far as I am concerned, they all work even better without any kind of control," Samori explained in a 2012 interview . "I don't know what it is that gives a person their identity, it's such complex matter. I definitely don't think a portrait can eventually give it back because you can always perceive its author behind its eyes; well, maybe others' portraits (even their removal,...

New Davis Guggenheim documentary examines the mind of Bill Gates

The trailer for a three-part docuseries examining the life of Bill Gates in all of its complexity has just been released. Directed by Davis Guggenheim ( An Inconvenient Truth, It Might Get Loud ), Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates will focus on the tech visionary's post-Microsoft life as he pursues unique solutions to some of the world's most persistent problems. It comes to Netflix on September 20.

finding cain

Search This Blog