02 / Hyperbolic / Fluid
Saddle Wave
A motion that never needs to move
A precise double-curved sheet of apparent liquid, suspended in an improbable gesture of balance.
Projection-mapped currents create apparent ripples on a physically motionless shell.
- Fabrication
- B · Preformed monolithic shell
- Envelope
- 1,200 × 1,200 mm footprint · ≈ ±120 mm
- Native atmosphere
- Arctic cyan
- Context
- Terrace · wellness · water-side garden
- Status
- Concept · not certified
Visual state
Atmosphere
Arctic cyan held in the curve like water in a basin.
01 / Geometry
Measured, not asserted.
The reference geometry behind the form. Preliminary design envelopes, written so an engineer can disagree with them.
01
Representative surface z = 0.12 [(x/0.60)² − (y/0.60)²] m, with x, y ∈ [−0.60, 0.60] m — reference elevations ≈ ±120 mm.
02
A hyperbolic paraboloid has non-zero Gaussian curvature: an unstretched flat skin cannot form an exact saddle.
03
Therefore: preformed-and-coated substrate, never a tensioned flat sheet.
02 / Fabrication
Preformed monolithic shell
Form the compound-curved carrier first; coat afterwards under validated rheology and cure; inspect thickness, adhesion and scattering; mount via concealed peripheral structure. Nested, protected shipping — not flat-pack.
03 / Three states
Dark, lit, alive.
The same object, three ways. The form must earn its place before any projector is switched on.
Dormant
A frozen wave in translucent material, read by daylight alone.
Luminous
Arctic cyan held in the curve like water in a basin.
Living
Mapped ripples travel the surface while the shell itself never moves.
04 / Where it belongs
Terrace · wellness · water-side garden
Low and horizontal, it belongs near water and sky: a terrace edge, a spa threshold, a courtyard at dusk. Viewers walk around it; the curve changes with every step.
Studio settings that suit it
Saddle Wave is an original, unbuilt concept study. Every image on this page is a visualization with CSS light treatments, not a photograph of a finished work; the geometry is a design-development starting point and nothing here is a certified production specification or a photometric claim.