Bloom: Distributed Urban Game

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND: 'Bloom,' by Andrasek and Sanchez, is described as a crowd-sourced garden, urban toy, distributed social game and collective 'gardening' experience. Designed in neon pink, it is a reconfigurable system of 60,000 recyclable plastic cells that is very easy to build. Its aggregation has a number of curved steel benches, which enable a number of connection points from which the structure could start growing. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: BLOOM considers a mode of assembly, disassembly and re‐usability that challenges the notions of traditional construction. Seeking the engagement of people for its construction and emergence, it proposes a crowd-sourced approach for assembly by using game mechanics as part of the design of one unit. Bloom has become the genesis of a research agenda that connects Architecture and Gaming culture. The project demonstrates Andrasek's ongoing research in the generative potential of design systems in relation to the constraints of materials, structure, fabrication and assembly. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: Commissioned by Greater London Authority as part of the Wonder series - with a budget of £88,000 - Bloom was first installed in London to celebrate the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. It was also exhibited at: the 9th Archilab: Naturalizing Architecture (2013-2014) at FRAC (Orléans, France), an internationally renowned event presenting the most advanced research in terms of architectural creation; 'Process: An exhibition of Visionary Architecture and Generative Design (2014) in Shanghai; 'The Future is Here (2015)', a touring exhibition from the London Design Museum; ACADIA 2014 Design Agency (Los Angeles); Sweden, Hungary, and 5 exhibitions and festivals across the UK. It was reviewed in Urbanista, ArchDaily, DesignBoom, Green Magazine, and Metropolis Magazine (New York), amongst others.