Foster + Partners is designing and then erecting, with the help of the public, a special installation to mark the launch of the 2008 London Festival of Architecture (LFA) on Saturday 21 June. Part of the LFAs Kensington, Chelsea and Knightsbridge Hub, the structure will be constructed and dismantled on Exhibition Road in a single day.
The design will be revealed at the event and Foster + Partners is delighted to announce that the installation will incorporate a new eight channel site specific sound sculpture by artist Bill Fontana. This is Fontanas second interactive piece with a Foster + Partners project in 2006, his sound installation Harmonic Bridge captured the reverberations of the Millennium Footbridge inside the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern. This new project will also form part of the free annual music festival along Exhibition Road, which will be pedestrianised for the day.
The temporary structure will rise to over ten metres in height, feature tensile components and involve public participation. Members of the public will be invited to assist between 10.00am to 12.00pm and then help to raise the structure at 2.00pm. Situated adjacent to Imperial College, visitors will be able to experience the interior of the installation and the specially commissioned sound piece until 6.30pm.
