The 20th iteration of MoMA PS1’s Young Architects Program (YAP) opens today, and The Architect’s Newspaper took a sneak peek at the towering installation ahead of time.
This year’s winners, the Mexico City-based Pedro y Jauna (and engineer Arup), have installed a 40-foot-tall ring of scaffolding in the Long Island City museum’s front plaza, complete with a tropical panorama and towering waterfall. Hórama Rama floats this “jungle” over a forest of scaffolding, with handwoven hammocks from the south of Mexico suspended between the columns.
The natural comparisons don’t stop there; while the inner ring of the 90-foot-wide cyclorama features lush jungle imagery, the outer ring presents a wall of technical two-by-six wooden beams, each capped with a splash of blue tape. On the ground, the duo behind Pedro y Jauna, Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo and Mecky Reuss, have scattered square benches made from the same material, and at first glance, they appear to be piles of unfinished lumber but eventually reveal themselves to be even more seating. Hanging work lights have been run through the pavilion to light it up at night, furthering the construction site feel.
The entire structure was designed to be light and permeable but still provide shade from the harsh summer sun, in following PS1’s design brief. Hanging hammocks have been suspended in every nook and cranny of the courtyard, providing quieter respites for visitors who choose to explore the space. The most pervasive feature is the “infinity” waterfall at the center of Hórama Rama, which constantly recirculates water. As Reuss explained, the waterfall isn’t for cooling off (though it does splash and mist quite a bit), but to infuse the space with the sound of running water.
Hórama Rama will remain installed through September 2 and will play host to PS1’s popular Warm Up concert series—the first in the indie music series will run on July 6. If you’re interested in seeing all five finalist entries for this year’s YAP competition, MoMA has installed models and diagrams of each inside the PS1 building proper. This exhibition usually runs at the MoMA proper, but with the Manhattan branch closed for the summer, the Queens offshoot is hosting it instead.
