[ a kit of these some parts ] x budget gym ] is a temporary architecture in-service of the activity: in this case, the activity of working out. Co-opting the formulas of rentable event-tents and trade show booths, where poles, panels, tension straps, and tarpscomplete otherwise generic structural frames, the project intertwines custom elements with generic ones and images with budget materials to provide a set of parts that come together to form a gym.
As a physical work of architecture, the project is burdened by the fast metabolism of aesthetics and the excessive production of sheer stuff created by the accelerated loop between culture and commodity. [ a kit of these some parts ] turns to material diversion tactics from diy queer cultural production, where often, low-budget material assemblies are re-aestheticized and reassembled to serve future uses. Repainting the same 2×4 over and over, here becomes, part queer approach to aesthetic renewal and part environmental tactic. Materiality, in this context, relies on one’s immediate network of resources and the perpetual reimagining of our physical world through surface manipulation, reassembly, and aesthetic layering in order to extend an object’s lifespan.
The project proposes assembly, rather than construction, refinish rather than remake, as ways of creating a rentable and reusable architectural kit that considers its own futurity. As a series of components that come together through provisional mechanisms: trough tape, tension straps and bolts. Impermanently tied together, objects to objects and objects to place. Only existing together for the duration of the program, these strappy, interim methods are equal parts kink and sensible approach to architecting. The kit includes: a structural steel system, foam padding, hold downs, tape, ratchet straps, shims, dunnage bags, sandbags and vacuum-formed panels. Varying in size and use, they blur the lines between scenographic backdrops, material prototypes, props and prosthetics.
In its iteration as [ x budget gym ], the exhibition has several components. The project will serve as a meeting point for exercise-based activities, such as weight-lifting, trainer-led workouts and as a hydration station and meet up point for hiking and biking groups. The public is also invited to use the gym for personal fitness at any time by emailing info@materialsandapplications.org for an appointment. Additional programs and performances are forthcoming. [ a kit of these some parts ] also includes a [ x video game ] where one can customize a future version of the project by inhabiting the catalog of parts.
The deployable architecture is available for rent in Los Angeles, CA and Detroit, MI areas after January 2020 by visiting www.someparts.parts
team: delaney mccraney, anika shah, waylon richmond, john vieweg
Delaney was architectural / web / kit / scenographic / systems designer for stock-a-studio under Xavi Aguirre from 2018 – 2021.
