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Folium is a mobile bandshell designed for the Blueridge Chamber Music Festival group. The goal of this group is to bring Chamber Music to the wider public. Usually thought of as an elite music performance, Chamber Music was originally meant to be informal and to bring people together through performing music together in an intimate atmosphere.
The stage was created through the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) Design+Build program in conjunction with the UBC Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP) and the curved shells were fabricated using the 8-axis Kuka industrial robot at CAWP. With an eye for portability and traditional un-amplified acoustics, the students designed a mobile stage that could be unfolded on a site for outdoor chamber music performances.
The shape of the bandshell was designed for acoustic performance using a parametric software to project sound to the spectators without the need for powered sound amplification.This is very important for the genre of chamber music. The assembly of the stage is easily accomplished manually without the need for any powered tools. The stage is equipped with a portable electric power station, powering the stage lighting while minimizing emissions and sound pollution.
Stage assembly sequence 
Folium combines a fixed bandshell and two rotating fins attached to a twenty-four-foot flatbed trailer. The demountable stage extension and rotating fins expand the size and coverage of the stage when deployed). The weight of the trailer including the superimposed structure is estimated to be approximately 6,500 lb.
The bandshell was fabricated using a 25mm plywood waffle structure and a 6mm marine-grade plywood skin that was bent and screwed into place to ensure rigidity. The complex curves of the bandshell were milled using the KUKA robot at UBC CAWP. This allowed for a precise bandshell construction which minimized the material waste. The shells are bolted to the trailer and the fins are anchored to rotating steel poles.
The shape of the bandshell allows for passive sound projection directed to the spectators, which eliminates the need for powered sound amplification. The wood used in this project utilizes local wood species and is sourced from local distributors. The assembly of the stage is easily accomplished manually without the need for any powered tools. The stage is equipped with a portable electric power station, powering the stage lighting while minimizing emissions and sound pollution.
