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Project Details

Fabric 1

Soltis 86
Producer/Manufacturer: Serge Ferrari North America Inc.
Primary Use: Main Fabric

Fabric 2

Vinagard 14oz Frosty
Producer/Manufacturer: OTHER
Primary Use: Secondary Fabric

Engineer Name 1
Jérôme Noël (membrane analysis) /Jean-Philippe Major (structure)

Engineer Company 1
Sollertia (membrane) / Conn-X (structure)

Design Name
Philippe Gravel (technical design)

Design Company
Sollertia (structure and membrane)

Architect Name
Rami Bebawi

Architect Company
KANVA

Fabrication Name
Karenne Janson-Le Bel

Fabrication Company
Sollertia (membrane)

Subcontractor Company
Entreprises RYM (structure fabricator)

Graphics Company
KANVA

Project Manager Name
Agnès Omer, Naomi Adler (CREOS) / Marie-Claude Le Blanc (Sollertia)

Project Manager Company
CREOS (project) / Sollertia (membrane and structure)

Installation Company
CREOS

Please describe the project specifications

The TRACES interactive art installation was presented to the world at the Canadian pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, which took place from October 2021 to March 2022 due to the pandemic. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the stunning multisensorial and thought-provoking exhibition is a collaborative piece with various creators taking part in its realisation. Since the themes for the Expo was “opportunity, mobility and sustainability”, the design team had imagined an installation featuring eight 8x8x8 ft membrane boxes that would each contain a precious object that embodies the beauty of dynamic life in suspension, complemented by multimedia interactions developed by artist Étienne Paquette. The idea was to attract attention on the fragility of our landscapes and species and on our collective vulnerability in the face of climate change, and so each box offered a poetic tableau that proposed a meditation on the theme of environmental vulnerability, using various objects and projections. Our firm was in charge of the technical design and manufacturing of the boxes, including feasibility studies, research of materials, structural analyses and wind force studies.

The Jewel initiates the conversation by placing fossilized birds on a pedestal, with integrated lighting that presents them as beautiful, but troubled jewels. The journey transitions to The Nearness, the most impressive in terms of scale, featuring a wall of extraordinarily filtered light highlighting the movement of birds within a vertical landscape. The Memorial strikes a more emotional chord, symbolizing a horizontal tomb where visitors find themselves paying tribute to a fallen species. The rectangular base with integrated lighting showcases fossilized birds as they hover over a stunning landscape of wood strata. The Forgotten symbolizes the careless discarding of objects we once cherished, with stacked cubes of illuminated prototypes that have been cast aside and underappreciated. The Seat invokes a sense of individual responsibility, seating visitors alone at an old school desk. Upon opening the desk, waterscape sounds and a 3D printed bird is unveiled in a seascape of black ink, depicting the effects of ocean spills through the distressed gaze of a bird struggling mightily to survive. The Gathering focuses on collective responsibility, embodying the process of problem solving around a dinner table, and inspired by a glowing cube of fossilized birds emerging from the center of the table. Unsettled sounds of distressed birds gradually evolve into soft and soothing harmonies that symbolize hope as visitors sit together at the table.
By contrast, The Sanctuary is an extraordinary enclosure devoid of human interference, with its white canvas animated by a projected flowing stream of birds immersed in a human-free world. KANVA’s eighth box delivers the starkest message of all. The Awareness consists of four chairs, one in each corner of the box, with an empty bird cage, door open, suspended from the ceiling. Intensifying white noise indicates that something is wrong and, as visitors take a seat and face each other, the ambiance softens to a soothing garden serenade of singing birds. But the cage is empty, and the bird has left.

The eight boxes were conceived and fabricated to tour around the world after the Expo, where they will persevere as flocking ambassadors of hope for the next five years.

What is unique or complex about the project?

Our company is very much invested in sustainable development, and constantly strives to work on projects that make room for this essential philosophy; naturally, we were drawn to the TRACES project from the start. On the technical front, it seems simple as it consisted of eight simple and straight-forward tensile membrane boxes. However, we had to find a solution to ensure that the pieces of the boxes would be easily assembled and dismantled for transportation, since the exhibition is slated to be travelling to various places all over the world. There was also a challenge in the creation of boxes that are white, blemish-free, perfectly tensioned and would remain that way. Our mission was to deliver an impeccable, resistant and durable product that would allow the sharing of a powerful message of hope for the protection of the environment. Each one of the eight boxes has its particularities, therefor the choice of membranes was made to suit their individual characteristics and play of shadows and lights; some were made with Soltis 86 by Serge Ferrari, others with Vinagard 14oz Frosty by Vintex.

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