2022
BOSTON
Poly Pockets
A soft construction framework designed for improvised urban life
SCALE
modular system; 2 ft x 4 ft components; multiple configurations
TYPE
kit of parts / event infrastructure
SITES
Goethe Institut (Boston)
SCOPE
design, fabrication
AWARDS
winner, 170 Residency
with Aaron Powers
Outdoor dining design guidelines, NYC Department of Transportation, 2021
Poly Pockets reimagines the pandemic street tent as a flexible architecture for public life beyond dining. Using off-the-shelf poly sheeting, we subdivided, sewed, and stuffed modular “pockets” to transform an ordinary tarp into a system of adaptable enclosures. Each pocket becomes a building block with a specific performance—weighted, insulated, padded, or structural—depending on what fills it: sand, insulation, fabric, or found materials.
Gottfried Semper, roof, detail, and plan of “Caribe Hut”, 1851. Tectonically the tent contains the allegory of architecture’s origins.
Through this process of cutting, stitching, and recombining, the project dismantles the tent’s singular function and proposes a new language of temporary architecture: one that’s soft, ad-hoc, and open to collective occupation.
Early tests: leaky mixing bags, semi-reusable soft formwork, sorta sturdy columns
TEAM
Strat Coffman + Aaron Powers
Fabrication assistants: Ellie Ervin, Sabrina Ramsay