Area 15 is a black box in the desert of Las Vegas. Inside that box is a wild wonderland filled with various works of performers, artists and designers. The gallery space holds long-term installations and hosts events. The inside of Area 15 can be wildly stimulating, so a request was made to create a bamboo work of art to serve as a sanctuary, a building within a building to serve as a large multifunctional space.
The response for this brief was to create a “volcano,” a structure that would show the beauty of bamboo in a simple way, easily transportable to the United States. We employed a classic reciprocating tower structure to do this, as the poles of bamboo would remain intact and offer a large space with minimal materials. The reciprocating tower design also allowed opportunity for ease of prefabrication.
The design used portable foundation points made from upcycled propane tanks, beautiful petung bamboo beams, and a membrane roof engineered by atelier.one. We built the volcano in Bali, then disassembled it and shipped it to Las Vegas where it was successfully reconstructed and now sits proudly in the black box in the desert, Area 15.
