Concrete Balloon
public commission on a roof-top school yard, IGS Bretzenheim, Germany, 2013

„Concrete Balloon“ won the public commission to be placed on a school roof and used by pupils. A platform of communication and activity opened by the six objects of a light grey concrete with a velvety surface. In their clear and unobtrusive shapes they step back for the protagonists of the setting: the school kids. Starting at the formal language of a comic, a two dimensional medium, sketched talking- and thinking- bubbles are lifted into the third dimension and become a dialog. The reduction to two colors and materials underlines the esthetics of comics and makes a direct reference to the present architecture as well. The 50 by 10ft field on the school yard on the roof is perceived as a panel of a comic or storyboard. Pupils´daily use of the sculptures complete the empty balloons with their personal stories, thoughts and action in constant flow. The plurality of shapes and directions opens the view. The Upper Bleistein project was finished in August 2013.

manufacturing by roomstone, Simmern