Output details
16 - Architecture, Built Environment and Planning
University College London
Alga(e)zebo
RESEARCH CONTENT AND PROCESS
--Description--
This ‘gazebo’ was commissioned as part of the Greater London Authority’s Wonder series of architectural installations for the 2012 London Olympic celebrations. Sited at Euston Square Gardens, it consists of a large decorative canopy structure and biotechnological apparatus. It intertwines human artifice with natural surroundings in three ways: vertical columns which incorporate photo-bioreactors containing algae; an ornamental pergola that emulates an inverted tree silhouette; and an irregular outline which allows the local environment to occupy the structure, as well as functioning as a communal seating facility.
--Questions--
1. How can integrated design and manufacturing processes enable an interdisciplinary, international team of designers, researchers and fabricators to collaborate on complex biotechnological architecture throughout design and use?
2. What is the best means of digitally designing, modelling and testing the gazebo’s innovative geometry and double-curved structural steel panels?
3. How should the interrelationship between biological and steel structures be achieved?
4. How can the gazebo be designed to encourage interaction in the public realm, reinvigorating an underused green space through an educational resource and offering new opportunities to learn about biological processes?
--Methods--
1. Conceptual design iterations which responded to the gazebo garden tradition.
2. Digital engineering tests developed with Bollinger-Grohmann-Schnieder’s bespoke algorithmic and parametric scripting programmes.
3. Precision CNC manufacturing of the gazebo’s double-curved panels by collaborating fabricators, CSI.
4. Biological research of algae growth, in collaboration with UCL’s Algal Research Group.
5. Installation and occupation of the project.
--Dissemination--
Published in the national and architectural press, including Detail Daily, Architects’ Journal, Building Design, Glass Magazine, Telegraph and Time Out London. Presented in lectures in Madrid, Guimarães, London, Edinburgh, Taichung and Barcelos, Portugal.
SIGNIFICANCE
One of the winners of the Greater London Authority’s Wonder competition for architectural installations to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
