Spontaneously built Bucky Bar leads to large public street party

02/19/10

A spontaneous street party in winter? Last Friday evening Feb. 19th The Bucky Bar opened, a temporary public building designed by DUS architects. The dome-bar, entirely made of umbrella's, appeared seemingly suddenly out of nowhere on the street around a lamppost in the centre of Rotterdam. The fully equipped bar, complete with DJ and drinks, was directly built on site. Approximately 300 visitors danced under the umbrella roof, until at 2:00 AM the police ended the party, as there was no permit.

Visitors were asked to gather Friday night at 10 PM at a junction at Witte de With / Schiedamsevest and bring an umbrella to personally contribute to the spontaneous building. Exactly at 10 the party started in full swing, and old and young, architects and coincidental visitors danced together despite the cold. Umbrellas were attached to each other into one big shelter, so even a bit of rain didn't kill the party.

The Bucky Bar is part of a series of 5 unsolicited positive advises for the city, that DUS architects in a collaboration with SUA (Studio for Unsolicited Architecture) pasted onto billboards of existing building signs in the centre of Rotterdam.

The Bucky Bar was first in the series and realized on 19 February 2010. A spontaneous public building made from the most common of materials: an umbrella. As Buckminster Fuller showed us how minimal energy domes could open a way to a more environmentally sustainable future, could an umbrella dome lead the way to a more socially sustainable future? The Bucky Bar is a full-scale model of such a future. It shows the power of space for spontaneous gathering, for improvised shelters to host conversations, debates, games or even parties. Quote of the night: "when is the next party?!".

The Bucky Bar is a project by DUS Architects and the Studio for Unsolicited Architecture, produced to coincide with the opening of the Architecture of Consequence exhibition at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi).
Project team:
Hans Vermeulen (DUS)
Martine de Wit (DUS)
Hedwig Heinsman (DUS)
Rory Hyde (SUA)
Anneke Abhelakh (SUA)

Bucky Bar Unsolicited Opening Party!

02/19/10

BUCKY BAR MANIFEST

"Coming down with the Dow Jones, When the clouds come we gone, we Rocafella (…) under an umbrella.. ella ella”
Jay-Z -and Rihanna get it straight, in times of crisis, we need to find shelter. The umbrella is the simplest form of shelter, a personal, private, and dry space in a soggy world. If one umbrella is a private space, what happens when we join 10 together, or 100?

Buckminster Fuller showed us how minimal energy domes could open a way to a more environmentally sustainable future, could an umbrella dome lead the way to a more socially sustainable future? The Bucky Bar is a full-scale model of such a future. A spontaneous public building made from the most common of materials, assembled with the resourcefulness of skill of architects. It shows the power of space for spontaneous gathering, for improvised shelters to host conversations, debates, games or even parties.

The Bucky Bar launches the DUS / SUA unsolicited agenda for the City of Rotterdam as part of the Architecture of Consequence exhibit at the Netherlands Architecture Institute. Look out for the video of our other unsolicited proposals for the City of Rotterdam in the exhibition and at the world wide web!

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