Polyblock
JN//DL, Sandbox Gouna
Project Team:
Joumana Abdelkhalek + Norhan Tarek
About
Polyblock was conceived as an initiative to introduce and promote unconventional computational design methodologies within the Egyptian architectural landscape. Presented at the Sandbox Music Festival in El Gouna—an international event that draws a diverse audience every May—the installation aimed to bridge the gap between experimental architecture and public engagement. Given the festival’s eclectic community, it was essential to create an installation that was not only visually striking, but also interactive, intuitive, and accessible to users of all backgrounds. Beyond serving as a pavilion, Polyblock functioned as an educational tool, revealing the full cycle of design, computation, fabrication, and assembly. One of the central ambitions was to craft a structure that visitors could both relate to and be intrigued by, prompting questions about form, fabrication, and the role of digital tools in shaping contemporary design.
Design Concept
Polyblock is a prototypical architectural system built from two fundamental units derived from the geometry of the dodecahedron. The project adopted a bottom-up design approach, ensuring a high degree of flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness to real-time conditions on site. The generative system was developed through a Grasshopper algorithm inspired by Frei Otto’s soap bubble experiments and the Weaire–Phelan structure, whose spatial logic informed the organization, clustering, and packing of the units.
Each block was prefabricated individually, with every face categorized as hollow, patterned, or solid depending on its function. Solid faces provided structural support and underwent stability testing before being braced. Once fabricated, the units were transported to Gouna for on-site assembly, allowing the final configuration to respond directly to the festival environment.
A deliberate decision was made to maintain a raw, honest material palette, using exposed wood as the primary material. This allowed the installation to resonate with the natural context of desert and shoreline, while simultaneously aligning with the tactile, earthy aesthetic of the festival. The geometric language, patterns, and spatial qualities drew inspiration from both the cultural atmosphere of Sandbox and the broader identity of Gouna and Egypt, merging computational logic with local sensibility.
Polyblock ultimately stood as an intersection of technology, craft, and cultural storytelling—an installation that invited visitors to engage, observe, and question how advanced computational systems can evolve into meaningful spatial experiences.
