PLEATED INFLATION

Argeles-Sur-Mer, France (2015)

Informal amphitheater

Design & computation: MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY

Location: Lycee Christian Bourquin, Argeles-Sur-Mer, France

All images Copyrights by THEVERYMANY (No use or reproduction allowed without written authorization).

In Argelès-sur-Mer, France, Pleated Inflation by MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY emerges as an open-air pavilion and informal amphitheater—an experiment in structure, space, and public gathering. The project extends the studio’s ongoing research into “pleated inflation,” a hypothesis that explores how thin aluminum parts can be folded and joined into a self-supported shell. By pleating the surface and introducing curvature in multiple directions, the pavilion gains strength without requiring any internal framework or secondary substructure.

The vaulted canopy is composed of thousands of ultra-thin aluminum components, riveted together into a continuous skin. Its surface swells outward like a billowed fabric, yet holds its form with remarkable stability. Within the shell, calibrated porosity allows light to filter through patterned openings, a strategy first tested in THEVERYMANY’s Calder installation. This distributed patterning creates a lively play of shadow across the ground while maintaining the pavilion’s sense of openness and permeability.

Beneath its soaring volume, the pavilion frames a generous, flexible interior—an amphitheater without walls or prescribed function. It can host performances, serve as a shaded retreat, or simply act as an architectural landmark where visitors pause, gather, and explore. Its openness invites a wide range of public activities, adapting easily to the rhythms of the seaside town.

As research and as built work, Pleated Inflation demonstrates how lightweight construction can produce monumental presence. It is both a technical experiment in pleated structural surfaces and a civic gesture, providing a shared space where structure becomes shelter, and shelter becomes stage.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_OIsHsE_ag&w=600&h=auto]

COMPUTATIONAL FORM FINDING: Pleated inflation

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJV6W7qP0OM?rel=0&w=600&h=auto]