Design and technical development of the windmill, on site prototype test

A project for the opening of the ‘Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine’, and based on an idea of the group of architects ‘Encore Heureux’.

The project was for an installation of a wall of 2500 polypropylene windmills covering the façade of the Palais de Chaillot which faces onto the Trocadero square.

Our part consisted in the creation and development of the module through testing. It is composed of folded wings and a system made to hang each windmill onto a net stretched over the building’s façade. Most importantly, the pieces had to be light, strong and easy to put up.

Tested in real-life conditions, they went through several storms, and if they broke, we improved them. In the end, the windmills could resist and remain unharmed by 110 km/h gusts of wind!

Covering the façade, the mass of mills move with the wind, becoming more or less animated according to its force. Like a vast field of wheat, the mills give shape to the wind.