The latest installation, Here There Be Monsters, opens today, the Ides of March, at Materials & Applications in Silver Lake. Although the opening reception is April 1st, from 2-6pm, the public is invited to come visit M&A over the next two weeks and watch as infranatural along with LEVITAS complete the final elements of this exquisite environment. The entire courtyard has been flooded with water to create a habitat for a unique and subtly responsive environment. Spanned by a hyperboloid-shaped bamboo foot bridge that resembles a fraying warped tube and lined with artificially intelligent water systems, the design results from a strategic effort by infranatural: a collaborative formed by Jenna Didier and Oliver Hess, and LEVITAS: a design team started by Bruce Danziger of Arup and Sci-arc and designers Moritz Freund and Shu-Chi Hsu. The installation explores the challenges of synchronizing the aesthetics and intrinsic characteristics of natural materials in a built environment embedded with variable frequency driven pumps and control system technologies. Upon entry visitors will cross the hand woven bamboo bridge around which the water will respond to their presence while their gestures are analyzed by watchful machines. The merging of technology and nature into a cohesive experience engages viewers through a sophisticated system of sensors to encourage a physical dialog with the responsive space. The installation investigates our fear of nature and the unknown, our attraction to control, and our definition of life. The system invites contemplation of these issues while working on many scales simultaneously. Experience of the space will vary depending on the visitor: children playing with energetic motions will create turbulent water spouts that react to their movements, calmer visitors may discover a more cerebral response within the patterned response of the water play. infranatural has designed all the systems to be self-learning and modifying so the installation will grow within its computational environment. The entire environment will evolve over the course of its exhibition time inviting users back regularly to see what has thrived and what has shriveled, it will be survival of the fittest based not just on the natural elements of rain and sun but also of attention and interest. See this Sunday's Los Angeles Times for an article about renegade young architects and designers that includes M&A and Ball-Nogues, the creators of last year's installation, Maximilian's Schell. Here There Be Monsters was made possible by generous donations from: ARUP, Ewing Irrigation, Fountainhead, Hilti, Formosa Fountains, FOGCO, and OASE Pumps with special thanks to the Los Angeles County Arboretum and the Swimmer Family Foundation. Materials & Applications is located at 1619 Silver Lake Boulevard in Los Angeles. M&A is a non-profit organization that conducts architecture and landscape research in an environment open to all. Want to help build something beautiful? Call us or send us an email to tell us you can lend a hand: 323.913.0915 or contact@emanate.org. Can't make it to Silver Lake? Watch the M&A website as the installation develops: www.emanate.org. M&A is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dependant upon your donations to keep doing what we do. Let's Build Something Beautiful!