This audience-interactive audio-visual installation was created for the Of Time and Place exhibition in collaboration with architecture firm Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios for the Cultural Heart of Kirklees project. The installation lets visitors explore three different sonifications of the mathematical formula for hyperbolic paraboloids, a doubly ruled surface that bends along a parabolic path one way and a hyperbolic path the other, forming a saddle-like shape. This sonification was accompanied by 3D models of the shapes, which could be rotated for viewing at different angles. The three sonified versions included a simple rectangular hypar, a saddle-like curvature, and symmetrical mushroom forms made up of four conjoined hypars.
Photographs by Laura Mateescu
The focus on hyperbolic paraboloids was in response to the Queensgate Market architecture, wherein the exhibition was presented. The modernist building, constructed from 1968-70, is unique because of its use of free standing concrete shells that rely on an asymmetrical hyperbolic paraboloid design. These impressive cantilevering umbrella-like structures are unique to the Queensgate Market, and as such will be preserved when the building and area are redeveloped (for more details on the market see https://c20society.org.uk/building-of-the-month/queensgate-market-huddersfield).
The work was presented at the Huddersfield Art Gallery from 10 February – 1 April 2023. Special thanks to Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios for commissioning and supporting the development of this work.
