Let’s Go Fly a Kite

Let’s Go Fly a Kite is an architectural installation that challenges the permanence of our built environment, and sustainability of building materials.  The box kites, that make up the overhead canopy of the pavilion, is designed to take on a second life, long after the pavilion itself is dismantled, and the structural steel that makes up the frame can be recycled. And so, the pavilion’s life lives beyond the built structure itself. 

The kites can be built off sight and zipped tied together in groups of nine while the steel structure is erected on site. Once both halves are completed the kites are suspended from the steel structure to complete the pavilion’s construction. 

The structural frame is composed of light gauge galvanized steel angles. They can be connected with bolts and anchors as a standard kit of parts. Steel cables run overhead to conform to the grid and help keep the structure rigid and stable. The columns are composed of four back-to-back angles that form a crucifix column that further helps define the overhead structural grid. 

The canopy of box kites are composed of dichroic film that reflect the environment, but also distorts it in a dream like manner. Depending on the sun and viewers’ angles they give off an iridescent glow that changes throughout the time of day. 

Let’s Go Fly a Kite is a sustainable statement in construction by recycling the building materials used for its construction and by giving them an alternate use after its demolition. Once disassembled the structure can be broken down into the 180 kites so that visiting New Yorkers can take home a piece of the pavilion. 

It is an architectural statement about recycling materials, maintaining small environmental footprints, minimizing the embodied energy for construction, and kites!

Site: Roosevelt Island (New York)

Program: Public Event Space

Year: 2019

Status: Open Competition