Interactive Counterpoint: Gallery Entry Competition for Art Interactive
Cambridge MA
Entry awarded Third Place

"Interactive Counterpoint " is Blostein/Overly's winning entry to the Art Interactive's "Exterior Design Competition". An addition to Jose Luis Sert's building near Central Square in Cambridge, the project is an exploitation of Cambridge signage codes; its effect is as big as allowable and its production as economical as possible. Accomplishing this required utilization of two of the cheapest building materials available in the northeast- air and dirt. These materials become Counterpoint to Sert’s building: crisp, heavy, a structure acting in compression. The Counterpoint: soft, weightless, acting in tension.

AIR makes a durable, yet translucent, plastic “Projected Sign”*, inflating when the gallery is open and deflating when closed, molding itself to the sharp lines of the building. Fabric roller shades fed through pockets in the inflatable display brochures and exhibit information when the gallery is open; these shades retract into the inflatable when closed.

DIRT makes a soft “garden sculpture” that replaces the landscaping along Prospect Street. While not hindering egress, this feature in essence extends the signage around the corner of the building and down the street.

Closed: the marquee "shrink wraps" to the concrete and glass skin.