Thinking outside the box: Ornaments inspired by the Vienna Secession and Otto Wagner become functional architectural elements.
 

Pang Jun Wei, Yichi Zheng, and Xueting Liu translate decorative elements into an acoustic system that connects the ceiling, corner, and floor using vertically arranged cornices and ceiling rosettes. The ornaments are thus enhanced with a functional architectural quality, and echoes are reduced by panels arranged in the corner. Their varying thicknesses enhance sound absorption, while their geometric relief scatters reflections. The design of “OrnaCorner” is inspired by the Vienna Secession and Otto Wagner’s shift from historicism to functional Viennese Modernism, and it also responds to the more reverberant, harsher interiors created by today’s common surface finishes.

Developed as part of the seminar “Applied Acoustics” at the Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna.