In his latest work dubbed Birth, Death and Midlife Crisis, artist Alex Chinneck is back at it again, exploring the limits of seemingly solid structures (and observer imaginations). This latest work in Germany deforms a structural column, calling its conventional neighbors into question. “The columns are the prominent feature in the 450-year-old museum and this intervention took an opportunity to defy logic and distort history.”

A lot of the artist’s other work operates along similar lines, undermining our expectations for physics, engineering and built environments. “I like to give fluidity to typically inflexible things,” he explains, “transcending their material nature.” This approach can range from pealing up pavement like a giant carpet to breaking windows in an impossibly precise fashion on an abandoned building.

The idea, in part, is to achieve these effects seamlessly. In the case of his latest piece, he says: “I wanted to create the impression that we had only changed what was already physically present in the museum and the work was born through the manipulation, rather than introduction, of material. With this approach, the objective was to produce something sculpturally bold but contextually sensitive.”

Aiming to go even larger with Onward & Upward, his next plan is to install a series of tall brick chimneys in the UK, each built from 20,000 custom bricks and likewise featuring knots in the middle. For now, the above looks like an impossible rendering, but soon it will be a uniquely bizarre architectural reality.

This mesmerizing mobile facade is an aesthetic and engineering marvel, but one has to wonder: could the mechanisms behind it be appropriated for other architectural purposes, like: providing light and shade on demand or on a schedule?

The dynamic design wraps a new cultural center in Shanghai, part of a 190,000-square-meter development by Foster + Partners in collaboration with Heatherwick Studio (images by Laurian Ghinitoiu).

It was inspired by Chinese theaters with bamboo-like bronze tubes set in three layers around the perimeter, constituting what the designers describe as “a moving veil, which adapts to the changing use of the building, and reveals the stage on the balcony and views towards Pudong.” The effect is certainly stunning, but despite the description, it seems to be mostly for show — an novelty experience for visitors and viewers.

The same kinds of systems, however, could be deployed more strategically, using other kinds of semi-opaque screens, for instance, that could automatically position themselves throughout the day to provide layers of shade. Such an application would have practical benefits, reducing cooling costs inside structures and increasing human comfort.

Alternatively, a similar screen system could be controllable by occupants, allowing building users to block off sections for things like meetings or film screenings requiring different amounts of natural light. For now, it remains a fascinating one-off work, but hopefully architects will consider adding this as a tool in their kit, applying similar technical sophistication to solve other site-specific design problems.

Stretched or hung around the skeletons of buildings, these membranes made of plastic, fabric and metal mesh act like architectural clothing, diffusing light and obscuring the original forms. From Christo and Jeanne Claude’s iconic Wrapped Reichstag to homes enveloped in translucent ETFE, these veiled structures have an air of mystery, their second skin often made of unexpected materials like plastic bottles or camouflage-printed textiles.

Lucas Cultural Arts Museum by OMA

Once it’s finally built, after a long delay that saw its planned building site changing from Chicago to California, the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum (LCAM) could be veiled in a dome-like transparent membrane made of ETFE plastic. Designed by OMA, this second layer creates a sheltered, freely accessible sky park, and can also function as a giant movie screen.

Wrapped Reichstag by Christo + Jeanne Claude

Virtually any structure with a membrane of some sort wrapped around it evokes the iconic work of artistic duo Christo and Jeanne Claude, particularly ‘Wrapped Reichstag.’ In 1995, the artists completely covered the entire Kunstmuseum Bonn with more than a million square feet of aluminum-colored fabric as a symbol for the new Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The project cost $15 million USD and remained in place for two weeks.

Shrink-Wrapped Storefront by SO-IL

Brooklyn-based studio SO-IL literally shrink-wrapped the famous Storefront for Art and Architecture’s facade in white plastic, creating a mysterious series of bulges and a single entryway. Taking inspiration from the seasonal storage of boats, SO-IL plays with the concept of artistic preservation. It’s actually not unusual for entire buildings to be shrink-wrapped for various purposes, like sensitive renovations, but the company that helped carry out the project noted that artistic usage of the wrapping method is rare. The new facade gave the storefront a snow-white and pristine look that lasted just days as it proved a tempting surface for vandals.

Glowing Home in Japan by Suppose Design Office

Plastic sheets wrapped around the exterior of a three-story steel home in Hiroshima filter light and create a lantern-like effect at night when illuminated from within. This translucent envelope enables a light-filled home on the inside, which was no small task for architecture firm Suppose Design Office as the narrow property is boxed in on three sides. Reed shades are hung in the upper stories during the summer to keep them from overheating.

Exterior Curtains on an Australian Home

In a reversal of the usual curtained windows, Herzl Arkitekten of Austria covered an entire two-story building in oversized outdoor draperies, veiling the outside of the duplex from view. Pegs hold the curtains open around windows and doors.

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Thats A Wrap 15 Building Facades Veiled In Plastic Cloth

A Japanese designer and Italian shoemaker have taken a fresh approach to athletic footwear, adapting the minimalist art of cloth wrapping to form the basis of a flexible shoe that fits any foot shape.

Masaya Hashimoto worked with Vibram, the makers of foot-shaped FiveFingers shoes (with articulated toes), to create the Furoshiki series of shoes with wrapping soles that fold around feet without needing laces (a simple hook and and loop system).

A specially-engineered gripping system keeps the shoes in place and make it possible for the shoe to perform like ordinary footwear but with less weight and material.

The system has a number of advantages, including more flexible sizing than traditional shoes, easier packing for travel and the ability to skip socks comfortably.

From Vibram: “The concept for this type of footwear was derived from the Japanese custom of packaging items by wrapping them in cloth fabric. Furoshiki is the only sole on the market that wraps around the entire foot. Because the upper is constructed with stretch fabric, it will anatomically fit nicely on any foot type and the hook and loop closure system allows for a quick, easy fit.”

The ultimate at-home hacker project, this strange small-world effect was created using a half-dozen GoPro cameras, a 3D printer and a technique that turns ordinary panoramic shots into a surreal world-warping wraparound experience.

German photographer, journalist and inventor Jonas Ginter cobbled together his cubic ball of cameras then mounted this oddball creation above his bike, all to generate the effect you see in the video above. Given the accessibility of the constituent technologies (and his helpful instructions), suddenly the idea of 3D video capture is within reach of any enthusiastic hobbyist.

The stereographic distortion, while a neat effect, is also helpful in rendering a three-dimensional view into a two-dimensional frame. As for the idea, here is a bit more from the creator (summary translation to follow): “Ich habe mir seltsame Konstruktionen mit Spiegeln angeguckt und frustriert festgestellt, dass das absoluter Quatsch ist. Stück für Stück kam die Erkenntnis, dass ich 360-Grad-Videos nur realisieren kann, wenn ich das Bild in einem Take aufnehme. Die logische Konsequenz hieß also: Viele Kameras.”

Above, Ginter explains his slow realization that to realize a 360-degree video he would have to do everything in a single take, which in turn means having multiple cameras.  While his takes so far are interesting in themselves, the possibilities are amazing – but consider just the fun consumer applications, like capturing a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree skydive or mounting this on the car roof for a road trip. You can read his summary on Ginter’s website, either in the original German or using Google Translate.