‘Zome Alloy’ is a lightweight structural wood shell, designed to accommodate the crowds of people that visit the fair and engage them in the question of what a house can be. Open along the entire south-facing facade, the pavilion takes the form of a single-family home opened to the public. Partially clad in aluminum, the structure is de-mountable and can be seen as an architectural system ready to go into production – a demonstration ‘zome’. The ‘zome’ system produces volumes that, unlike geodesic structures, can be stretched and elongated.
With this new work, Oscar Tuazon (b. 1975, Seattle) builds on the work of inventor, solar engineer and architect Steve Baer (b. 1938, Los Angeles). After studying physics and mathematics at ETH Zurich, Baer moved to Albuquerque, becoming one of the architects of Drop City, often referred to as the first hippie commune. In 1968 Baer published Dome Cookbook, which describes the mathematical system for creating stretchable polyhedrons, or zonohedra.
In 1971, Steve Baer and his wife Holly Baer built a zome home for themselves, a cluster of 11 fused volumes with a floor area of 215 square meters organized in a U-shape around an east-facing courtyard, outside Corrales, New Mexico, where they live today. The shell of the structure consists of lightweight honeycomb panels clad in light-reflecting aluminum. The clustered, stretched organic forms can be seen as an analog precedent for much of the digitally generated fluid surfaces of contemporary architecture, though the house was built entirely by hand. The house is also an early example of a passive solar-energy system and served as a laboratory and testing ground for Baer’s innovative work in passive solar technologies. Zomeworks, founded and operated by the Baers, continues to be a leader in this field.
Tuazon’s ‘Zome Alloy’ is the zome stripped down to the bones, an updated version of the original Baer house using contemporary technology. Using a 3D survey of the Baer house, Tuazon developed a structural panel system that will be manufactured in Switzerland using robotic cutting and assembly technology.
During Art Basel the installation will host the second Alloy Conference. The first Alloy Conference, organized by Steve Baer, took place near La Luz, New Mexico in 1969 with participants from nearby communes and included contributions from Steve Durkee, Lloyd Kahn, Peter Rabbit, and Stewart Brand on energy, structure, materials and alternative building systems. The second edition of the conference, organized by Tuazon, will bring together individuals experimenting at the forefront of engineering and architecture to address those same questions today.
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