On Bubblegum Architecture

As our posts about inflatable constructions and ‘bubbletecture’ are among the most popular on this blog, we’d like to show these rather classical examples of Urban Hubba Bubba Gum; bubbling as an urban style avant la lettre.

Above a picture of the 1972 project of Haus Rucker & Co for the Documenta 5 art exhibition in Kassel, 1972. It’s a transparent structure with a diameter of 8 meters. It has been placed in front of the main facade of the Friedericianum, functioning as an unexpected balcony. Libarynth says:

“A catwalk made of standard tubular steel sections projected through a window from the interior of the building. A tubular steel ringwas fixed to this footbridge, at a slight distance from the façade. This ring formed the external support for a PVC foil shell that formed a sphere when inflated into shape by an air pump. Internally it was the connecting element for a short tunnel made of the same material that had large zips at either end and thus functioned as a kind of airlock.”

This project by Frankfurt-based artist Simone Decker is called Chewing Gum. The bubble was made for the occasion of the Venice Biennale in 1999. The project’s photo series includes shots of wads of gum stretched between buildings, and the giant-looking bubbles. The chewing gum is real, chewed, chewing gum. It might look really big but, in fact it’s a perspective trick.