PleatPod

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: PleatPod is an acoustic meeting pod that provides spatial separation for meetings in open plan spaces. Installed at RMIT Design Hub, the design and construction of PleatPod were based on a body of research led by Leanne Zilka in collaboration with textile designer and researcher Jenny Underwood. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: The PleatPod is the result of investigation into fashion and textile techniques to produce an enclosure that sits between architecture and a garment. Through the idea of the Pleat (defined as a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place, commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric around a circumference), the hierarchies between skin, structure and form were removed. New fabrication and modelling technologies allowed for the translation of a garment scaled concept to become a realised space. This project extends Zilka's multidisciplinary research (across fashion, textiles, material science and aerospace engineering) into the application of material technologies to architectural problems. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: PleatPod was commissioned by RMIT University after Zilka's proposal won the open competition for a meeting space to go into open plan spaces within the university. The project was featured in the Italian design magazine Domus, and Inhabitat, a weblog that tracks the future of design.