On the beat
Beat is defined as ‘a main accent or rhythmic unit in music or poetry’. To capture this concept in physical form, the designers begun with the image of a speaker cone—an object often at the mercy of strong, steady beats. From there they toyed with how this would look as a sculpture wall, abstracting the speaker cone to arrive at a hexagonal shape somewhat reminiscent of a paper fortune teller. Each hexagon is formed by six equilateral triangles with angled flaps, folded to give the entire sculpture wall an undulating, almost animated, appearance.
Throughout the design process, the Autex team met with Warren and Mahoney to present the concepts in model form—first with cardboard, then graduating to Cube™ panel—giving the architects space to refine the concepts, and a clear idea of what the final piece would look like. Due to the intricate nature of the beats wall, the models eventually became references for the installers—helping them construct the hexagonal mosaic.