AIR HOUSE / Time Construction 4

Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt 2006

Concrete prefabricated parts, ventilators, wire, wood

In Ilona Ruegg’s Time Construction series this project is an intervention in the process of a private construction project. The owner of a private house invited the architects UmbauterRaum, Bad Homburg to produce an orchid house. Before its construction near Frankfurt, Ilona Ruegg showed it in a fragmented state. The transportation of the prefabricated building components was halted on Mathildenhöhein front of the museum and in close proximity to the art nouveau buildings. During the course of a week the 9 building components took the form of a transit storage area. 9 ventilators, comparable to the ones which will ensure that there is a constant and specific climate inside the future orchid house, were in action without interruption for one week and were powered from the Institut Mathildenhöhe. Just as the lighting in the public park operates all night for security reasons, the ventilators also carried on their activity. At the end of the week of being stationary the transportation in the direction of the construction site was resumed. There the private orchid house was erected as planned.

Text: SENSUALLY YOURS

Interview: PRECARIOUS PRESENCES

Publication: AIR HOUSE / TIME CONSTRUCTION 4, Frankfurt 2007