This is a very interesting project just off Oxford Street, London. Aluminium strips have been bent, twisted and secured onto sculptural armatures to create inverted eyelids opening to the sky from the narrow street. The form is zoomorphic and simultaneously reminiscent of a hull construction.
From the Jury: We decided by consensus to create an additional prize for innovation & design for this project. This is a very interesting project in many ways when you look at the transformation achieved with this aluminium rainscreen cladding. The form of the interior is not exactly the same as the form of the exterior, but there is a relationship between the internal architecture and the external architecture. Because of its inventive use of aluminium extrusions to make a sort of ship’s sail detail that is doubly curved, I think this is a practice that really understands aluminium and what it might achieve. It is a very intelligent use of aluminium and it is very evidently an aluminium project. To borrow an old phrase, you can see the power of aluminium and the inventiveness of the architects. Consequently they are a worthy winner of this extra prize for innovation & design.
