Miami Waves

Mamou-Mani has completed a futuristic bed stand in Downtown Miami, made from 46 custom cut and symmetrical “Wooden Wave” panels going from the wall to the ceiling. The piece surrounds a floating bed creating a soft embrace of flaming waves which seem to emerge from the dreams of the sleeper. Mirrors at the end of the room creates an additional symmetry in this river of wood. Dimmable LED strips at the back of the panel create a soft light scattering on the edge, to accentuate the floating feeling and through the pattern, making the timber shine like silk.

The parametric pattern of laser cut lines alters the global properties of plywood sheets making them locally more flexible and thus controlling the 3D form without significant supporting framework. It is a development of the traditional timber bending technique, using the kerf (beam width) of the laser to form torsional springs within the material.

The piece is left untreated, showing the natural form of the engineered timber and creating gradients of burn marks linked to the gradual lattice-hinge patterns.

The structure was made at the architect’s digital fabrication laboratory in London, The Fab.Pub and represents the rise of a new kind of architecture in which the designer is also the “maker”. It is an iteration from the first application of the Wooden Waves at the London Headquarter of Buro Happold which won the American Masterprize in 2016.

Each panel is laser cut from from 3mm thick birch plywood sheets. They are then transported flat packed to site and folded in-situ into unexpected configurations through an opensource and innovative digital fabrication technique of “lattice hinge formation”, documented and shared by Aaron Porterfield on his “The Instructables”.