Located along a busy thoroughfare, Vox was commissioned to improve the look of existing heating and air conditioning exhaust vents near the Dallas Arts District. Focusing on the East-West axis of the structure's location, Vox utilized the movement of the sun throughout the day, as the backbone for this design.
Initially clad in granite, frosted glass was chosen as the new "skin" for the structures. An internal cavity was created by moving the glass panels a short distance from the center of the vent. Within the cavity, mylar tapestries bearing designs painted with high-temperature white paint and accents of dichroic glass, were suspended within each enclosure. This combination of mylar, white paint, dichroic glass, frosted glass and sunlight, make for an effect known as 'inferior mirage'.
Unlike 'superior mirage' where the viewer sees things that are not there, the inferior mirage effect relies on optically charged materials, to produce illusions of color, pattern, and dimension. In this case, the changing light of the sun, following its daily East-West route, interacts with the materials within each enclosure, resulting in a variety of optical illusions that change throughout the day.
In addition to the changing natural light, there are other factors contributing to what is visible. Moving around the structures, or varying one's distance from them also causes the effect to change or dissappear altogether. Therefore what is seen through the glass depends on light, angle, and distance from the enclosures.
Architectural design by Staffelbach Design Associates
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