Photo Credit: Summer Yen

GRAVITY CUBE/ FRACTURE PLANES

Stainless steel stage sets, Little Ant & Robot

 

Designed for the internationally renowned choreographer Huang Yi and his dance studio, Gravity Cube and Fracture Planes is a stage set for the performance “Little Ant & Robot.” The performance is a multi sensory experience that melds robotic arms and dancers in a setting inspired by Pina Bausch’s Cafe Mueller. Tactile, antique furniture and elements were used throughout the performance, so the architectural sets were designed for elevated, inorganic and stark contrasts, a nod to imageries from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001.

Gravity Cube is a 3x3x3m stainless steel frame composed of 12 parts that is held together by gravity, and can be assembled or dismantled by hand without the use of any tools such as screwdrivers. To fulfill the studio’s traveling and stage requirements, Gravity Cube can fit into traveling equipment luggages and 12 person passenger elevators without the need for special loading or tools. Special joinery details were developed based on the mortise and tenon principle. With the weight of the stainless steel itself, Gravity Cube not only can handle equipment loading, but will also support other set pieces in the future. Once assembled, there is no visible trace of connections or joints.

Fracture Planes is a 3x3m mirror titanium coated stainless steel wall composition that challenges presence and perception. In front of it, dancers seem to appear from nowhere, or stand in front of the mirror array without any reflections. Two color tones, black and gold, were used for the titanium coating, and each “plane” or panel is set ajar to the others at a slight angle both horizontally and vertically.

 

Project data

Program Function: Stage Set
Performance: Huang Yi Studio + “Little Ant & Robot: A Nomad Café”
Stage Set Design: XRANGE Architects

Design: Mar 2020
Completion: Oct 2021

Construction

Interior Contractor: Marvelous Studio
Gravity Cube Fabrication: Shyang-Shye Enterprise Co., Ltd
Fracture Plane Fabrication: D-fic project engineering Limited company

Photography

Lorenzo Pierucci Studio