WAVES ON SHORE

2011+2012+2013 // ROSKILDE FESTIVAL [DK]

Waves On Shore [WOS] explores three main issues, how we gather in public space, manipulation of a surface, can a structure have a memory?

Most public furniture doesn’t allow for group gatherings. They are often designed in a linear form, where no more than four people can sit and all be in the conversation. WOS was designed for one of the largest music festivals in Europe, Roskilde Festival, with approx. 150.000 participants. At festivals, people often gather in larger groups with a linear furniture design this means that half the group ends up on the ground. In order to provide multiple ways of gathering, WOS manipulated the flat surface to incorporate “waves” of three heights and widths. These were then juxtaposed to form multiple new ways of hanging out together. People will instinctively inhabit the platform, and find their preferred way of using it. Some want to sit up high and have an overview whereas others find little cozy nocks deeper in the structure. Besides being used as a cafe and bar for people to hang out, it was programmed to include public yoga classes, silent disco, movement therapy, and more. Each program challenging and informing the layout of the waves.

WOS was designed to be used over three consecutive years, and thus designed in elements that could easily be broken down and stored away. These elements fit together in endless ways, allow me to redesign the platform from year to year. Using the information I had gathered from the previous year’s festival to adapt the layout to my observations of use. Thus creating a structure with memory, what worked, and should be enhanced and what was problematic and should be avoided in the next iteration. 

WOS was a way to experiment and learn from the transformation of a large scale public furniture, to be used in urban design for our public spaces.