Huyghe + Le Corbusier Puppet Theater
MOS, 2004

To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Le Corbusier’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University—his only North American project—this theater was constructed within the site’s sunken exterior courtyard specifically for a puppet performance by the conceptual artist Pierre Huyghe.

The organic form of the theater was built with five hundred unique white polycarbonate panels, diamond-shaped and interlocking to create a rigid structure; because they are simply bolted together, they are easily assembled and disassembled. Forces dissipate across the assembled surface, which encloses the theater space, and the modulated ceiling panels are turned inside out to create skylights and, like keystones, structural stability. 

Interior view.

CATIA model. Photo: MOS

The panels are three inches in depth and span more than fifteen feet at the center of the theater. Foam inserts placed in the panels stiffen the plastic shell. An exterior layer of moss covers the plastic panels, so at night, when light permeates the edges of the diagonal plastic panels, the moss appears suspended.


Entering the theater from Quincy Street through a soft, flexible opening focused around a tree, the space bulges to form an interior of reflective, glossy, white plastic walls. Undulating white foam seating repeats the patterning and dimension of the plastic panels, creating a uniform vessel.

The interior compresses, looking toward the stage opening. When the puppet performance isn’t playing, there is a view into the Carpenter Center, while the soft entrance frames a single tree as one exits. The theater collapses the synthetic and organic into a single structural surface.

Unfolded panels.

Formed plastic panels and assembly.

Formed plastic panels and assembly.

Moss-filled panel. Photo: Michael Vahrenwald

Assembly. Photo: MOS

 

Book Reference:

Digital Fabrications Architectural and Material Techniques by Lisa Iwamoto 
https://amzn.to/3Gt0s2u