Archinect - News

Vibrant pavilions by Foster + Partners and NEON utilize recycled everyday materials

2024-06-12T06:02:00-04:00

Real estate developer and operator Brookfield Properties has today announced the launch of two pavilions, one designed by Foster + Partners and the other by NEON, as part of the London Festival of Architecture (LFA).

“Radial” by Foster & Partners and “Squiggle” by NEON are located outside of two of Brookfield Properties’ key London office buildings. They were designed as landmarks, inspired by themes of circularity, community, and sustainability. The structures respond to the LFA’s theme of “Reimagine,” in which they utilize everyday materials in innovative ways to encourage reflection on material recycling, reuse, and climate change.

"Radial" by Foster + Partners. Photo: Aaron Hargreaves

“Radial” aims to function as a space for pause and reflection. It features a radial pattern of flags made from 100% reused and recycled construction materials, including plastic bottles and scaffolding.

Photo: Aaron Hargreaves

The flags hang above curved wooden benches and are colored in tones of ...

Cavalry 360° imitates forgotten sounds amidst quintessential English landscape

2017-08-26T04:00:00-04:00

Last month, Cavalry 360°, a vast site-specific musical instrument designed by NEON opened on the banks of the North Tyne, UK. The structure uses the force of 32 wind turbines to create an ever-changing sound of the cavalry moving across the landscape—horse’s hooves hitting the ground.

Arranged in a circular form to allow people to step into the work, Cavalry 360° measures 3.5 meters high and 12 meters across. In the setting of a quintessential English landscape, the work seeks to connect the visitor to the place's long history, manifested in the preserved walls of the Roman cavalry fort. The constantly altering in direction and rhythm sound is created by beaters, the number of which represents the 500 horse that used to inhabit the site.

Photography: Lightly Frozen / English Heritage / Anthony Chappel-Ross.

Kevin Booth, Senior Curator at English Heritage, noted, "It is designed to connect the viewer with the environment, to invite people to look through the work at the landscape bey...

Gettin' fleshy with it: "Skin" sculpture is both critique and kinda creepy

2016-10-27T13:12:00-04:00

Oh, functionalism: enough already with the developer-driven efficiency that puts dollars ahead of human livability. Or so goes the critique that underlies the sculpture by NEON known as "Skin," a six-sided grid strung with 1800 pairs of skin-colored tights.

Inadvertently reminiscent of films like "Cube" and "Hellraiser," "Skin" is intended to start conversations about the human dimension in architecture. As a press release elucidates:

"From within the sculpture also imitates the aesthetic of human flesh to create a feeling of immersion with the inhabitant losing all sense of where their body ends and architecture begins. It is intended that this approach will create a strong physical and emotional connection between the inhabitant and the architectural space. This sense of being physically and emotionally present is particularly important in a world where technologies continue to erode our sense of personal space."

For more on innovative fabric-based architecture:

A wrap-up of Vancouver...

The House of Mirrors reinvents the Australian beach hut with a hint of mirror magic

2014-11-11T17:02:00-05:00

At first glimpse, the House of Mirrors looks like a misplaced stack of wiry boxes randomly cast away along the Australian coast. Up close, the cubical structure further engages passersby as its steel frame draws them right to its mirrory middle, which appears to float inside as it reflects its coastal surroundings.

The House of Mirrors by London and Melbourne-based design studio NEON was recently displayed at the Sculpture by the Sea Bondi 2014, a large public outdoor exhibition that takes place along the Bondi to Tamarama shoreline in Australia.

For more details, head over to Bustler.