Indoor Forest at The Architecture Foundation

London, 12-08-2010

Norwegian architects PUSHAK have made a striking installation of moss-covered arches in the entrance and gallery space of the Architecture Foundation, London. The project, named Moss Your City, is the outcome of the Foundation’s International Exchange Scheme which is aimed at promoting the work of emerging architects in Norway and the UK.

PUSHAK intended the installation to be a representation of Norwegian landscape but its haphazard and angular openings read more like an eccentric English maze that’s been allowed to overgrow in strange geometries. Its fairy-tale like quality has been taking urban dwellers by surprise since the exhibition was set up in June for the London Festival of Architecture. The work, designed by Sissil Morseth Gromholt, Camilla Langeland, Marthe Melbye and Gyda Drage Kleiva, has emerged from the Oslo-based practice’s research into the relationship between contemporary architecture, landscape and natural resources.

It was inspired by the Bankside Urban Forest (a focus area of the London Festival of Architecture 2010) and by the work of green activists across South London. The aim of the project was to show that moss to be a ‘beautiful and versatile material that can work in harmony with contemporary design’. The exhibition has been extended until the end of this week. Images via Dezeen.