ORGANIC SCAPES AND ARCHITECTURE [OS+A]

London Floating Gallery

competition entry - London - UK - 2008

The concept design for the floating gallery on the River Thames comes from a single moment, an inspiration, hence, a re-discovery and re-interpretation of a landscape. We strongly believe that contemporary architecture, clearly influenced by time and politics and socio-political issues, needs to also maintain a direct dialogue with nature. A dialogue not only understood as literal interpretation but subjective definition, a metamorphosis of form and meaning. We propose to base our design concept on a topography, a cut, a landscape; reinterpreting the idea of fluidity, whether in a liquid stage or a fixed 'frozen' surface.

• Rendering

  Water is our inspiration. Water is life, breath, power, and above all things, beauty. The floating gallery takes all these elements, proposing a fluid exhibition space for recreational uses and contemplation; a city landmark... a landscape.

• Elevation
• axo

Across an intensive study of the vegetation and its colouring, we have based our exterior exhibition space under the large possibility of varying the colour four times a year. Four different typologies of flowers, actually, will colour the entire landscape cyclically, every four months, hence revealing the current season: red tulips during spring, yellow freesia during summer, blue iris during the fall, and orange narcissus during winter. These coloured threads will cover the landscape partially, accentuating the visual perspectives that will accompany the visitor in a thread of colour from red to orange, with a constant for the rest of the landscape which is the green colour.

• Circulation Diagrams
• Scheme
• Section
Type:
International Competition
Program:
Exhibition Gallery
Year:
2008
Location:
London, UK
Status:
Competition Entry
Team:
[OS+A - Gabriel Belli Butler, Stefano Rocchetti] in collaboration with: Francesco Lipari
Building Size:
120,000 m2
Budget:
200,000,000 Euro
MAX. height:
400 m