ESCOBEDO SOLÍZ STUDIO winner of MoMA PS1'S 2016 Young Architects Program

The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 announce Escobedo Solíz Studio as the winner of the annual Young Architects Program (YAP) in New York. Now in its 17th edition, the Young Architects Program at MoMA and MoMA PS1 has been committed to offering emerging architectural talent the opportunity to design and present innovative projects, challenging each year's winners to develop creative designs for a temporary outdoor installation at MoMA PS1 that provides shade, seating, and water. The architects must also work within guidelines that address environmental issues, including sustainability and recycling. Escobedo Solíz Studio, drawn from among five finalists, will design a temporary urban landscape for the 2016 Warm Up summer music series in MoMA PS1's outdoor courtyard.

The winning project, Weaving the Courtyard, opens at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City in early June. The architects describe this year's construction as "neither an object nor a sculpture standing in the courtyard, but a series of simple, powerful actions that generate new and different atmospheres."

Weaving the Courtyard is a site-specific architectural intervention using the courtyard's concrete walls to generate both sky and landscape, with embankments in which platforms of soil and water suggest the appearance of a unique topography. A reflective wading pool will stand at the back of the courtyard allowing visitors to cool off in fresh water.

Using the modulation of holes existing in the concrete by the formwork ties from when the walls were originally poured, the architects will weave a textured canopy suspended over the courtyard, or a "cloud" made of contrasting yet colorful ropes. Variations of density will be visible throughout the weaving, inviting visitors to interact and occupy spaces for different periods of time. The woven cloud will provide shade to the visitors below while recasting the courtyard in a bright colored web. As the materials will be largely unaltered by the construction process, they can be re-used at the close of summer.