
Designed for the Land Art Generator Initiative competition, the ‘NAWT Balloons’ concept, which was recently shortlisted in the competition, aims to couple the image of an oversized helium-filled teardrop with a nuanced application of wind energy technology. While the balloon’s image and subsequent geometry are the primitives to the proposal, the deployment on the Fresh Kills site ignites an interest in the oversized and the attenuated. Designed by Norman Kelley, through its multiplication and reconfiguration, this design may be able to produce new, yet familiar, collections of iconicity. More images and architects’ description after the break.
It is a common misconception that Phileas Fogg’s journey in Around the World in Eighty Days was by hot air balloon. The iconic image, however, fulfills a visual nostalgia for the whimsical beauty of a floating mass. Despite the misreading of Verne’s text, the image is far too satisfying to pass up and we accept the error as truth. Thousands of airborne wind turbines are embedded in conic hair follicles which are applied to the balloon’s curved surface. Skewing the iconic image of Verne’s buoyant mode of transportation, the aim of NAWT Balloons is not flight or expedition.
