Dunstans Crescat Boulevard

Erosion is the process of wearing away, either mechanically or naturally.

The pedicure is more than 2000 years old and can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians. The modern dry pedicure which focuses on nail health and exfoliating dead skin from the soles of the foot is more related to health than any of the other cosmetic treatments with which we are more familiar with. This process of exfoliation is a means of mechanically eroding the dead skin on the soles and allowing new skin to grow, keeping the soles of the feet healthy.

An enclosure was required by the clients which gave customers for pedicures a sense of privacy. At the same time the landlord required the installation to be transparent so as to maintain a clear view of the surrounding shops. Two very contradictory requirements.

The enclosure is created by four walls. The walls explore three core ideas in order to mitigate between the clients and landlords opposing requirements:

1. 1. Wall as surface to create focus
2. 2. Physical erosion of the wall in order to create transparency
3. 3. An erosion of the by stander's view the closer they get to the wall in order to maintain customer privacy

The idea of surface is explored with the use of folded paper. The ability to change the form of a material by simply cutting and folding has been a substantial part of our research across a number of projects. A simple set of rules governs identical modules while the location of the fold determines the quantum of erosion that takes place.

This mechanical process of erosion has been applied to the walls which create the enclosure in the atrium space at Crescat Boulevard in an effort to give it transparency. The process of eroding the wall is controlled to give more transparency at eye level and less below. The walls become completely eroded above eye level provided a clear view is required. Erosion takes place in the form of the openings being eroded to enlarge them based on there datum.

In order to control the bystanders view the thickness of the wall is balanced against the size of the perforation. The greater the erosion of the openings the wider the view. The openings erode inward like dimples or perforations on a piece of coral.

The result is a wall which is reminiscent of a piece of weathered coral, or a piece of wood that has been attacked by termites. In the end however the wall is simply a collection of 6 fractal elements made of paper.