Digital canopy: high-end computation/low-tech construction

The design and construction of this canopy and landscape for a small courtyard [1] took the form of an adventure in digital design and low-tech construction. The installation was for the end of year party in June 2002 at the Academie van Bouwkunst in Amsterdam. The courtyard occupies a central space in the school adjacent to the main lecture hall and contains a historic cobblestone court [2]. One of the design team, Neil Leach, proposed that it should be transformed into an enchanted garden suggestive of Dutch greenhouses and Shakespeare'sA Midsummer Night's Dream.