Looking Outwards-03

Work: Times Eureka Pavilion
By: NEX Architecture x Marcus Barnett

The Times Eureka Pavilion in London is the stunning result of a collaboration between NEX Architecture and Marcus Barnett for the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show. As it sits in a garden among a lush collection of plants, the pavilion imitates the cellular makeup of these plants: branch-like structures emerge from one another and let light through into the cubic space inside, as if viewers are peering through a microscope at a section of a fibrous stem. To generate this work, the creators used computational genetic algorithms, representing the intricacies of the natural world in a grander, more calculated way. I especially admire the fact that this structure gives back to the space within which it resides–it is said that the roof collects rainwater and lets it back into the soils, and the way the walls are structured disperses natural light both into the interior and exterior. I believe that this is a perfect example of technology and nature living in harmony, complementing one another instead of competing for dominance.