NASA Orbit Pavilion

StudioKCA’s aluminium seashell-like structure for the NASA Orbit Pavilion will be on view at The Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens.

The StudioKCA-designed “NASA Orbit Pavilion” houses a sound installation, created in collaboration with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and sound artist Shane Myrbeck, that represents the movement of the International Space Station and 19 earth satellites through artistically created sounds.

“Like holding a shell to one’s ear to listen the ocean, what if you could walk into a massive shell and listen to the sounds of space, or rather, a symphony built out of the sounds of satellites in space?”, says Jason Klimoski, principal of StudioKCA. Visitors can enter the pavilion and gain a sonic and experiential understanding of how NASA satellites circumnavigate the Earth.

Jason Klimoski and his partner Lesley Chang worked closely with NASA’s data and Myrbeck’s composition to create a sound chamber consisting of 28 speakers spatially arranged to mimic orbits. Visitors are surrounded by this sonic experience, as satellites seem to fly over, under, and around them. The pattern of the nautilus structure reflects the paths of space satellites as well: 100 orbital paths are water jet cut from 3,500 square feet of aluminium panels that elegantly fit together around a curved framework of aluminium tubes. The pavilion’s design minimizes external noise and decreases the wind loads on the light structure to create an immersive environment.

“NASA Orbit Pavilion” is the first exhibition on view as part of “Five”, an initiative that connects The Huntington’s vast and multifaceted collections to five external organizations and array of contemporary artists over the next five years. The Huntington is home to a significant collection on the history of astronomy and aerospace, making the pavilion – a collaborative art and science project – a stellar first iteration of the series.

The Pavilion debuted in the summer of 2015 at the World Science Festival at New York University and then travelled to The Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum in New York. The Huntington Library is the pavilion’s first appearance on the west coast.