Touching the Earth Lightly

With so much innovation occurring in the design world today, particularly sustainable design, I find it incredibly hard to pick and choose the ones I like most. Sometimes however, one really thoughtful, creative design or designer manages to push all the boundaries and stand out among the rest. One that I find fulfills all of these requirements is Lambert Kamps and his Air Bridge design. Perhaps what I find most intriguing about his designs are the concepts behind them and the fact that he uses air as a main part of the structure. One idea he emphasizes in this project is that not all things in the built environment need to stand as permanent structures, but can exist only when they are needed and disappear when they are not. The Air Bridge is essentially an inflatable tube-like bridge that is temporarily blown up to extend up to 15 meters and hold up to 12 people at a time in its tunnel. The beauty of his design is maybe not so much in the practicality of it, but more so in the experience. Imagine bouncing along a long pillow of air floating above the water’s surface. This is a structure that literally touches the earth lightly. I like to think that there are times when foregoing function for experience is accepted in the design world, and I feel that this is just one of those instances.
I fell upon Lambert Kamps’ designs in a little book called XS. The book features designs that center on conserving space and ecological sensitivity. Among this one are many other ingenious designs that may well redefine the way we approach contemporary architecture.

Here is a link to Lambert Kamps webpage