London, United Kingdom
2020 - 2021
The Cube
Designed for VELUX in collaboration with AKQA, The Cube creates a space to experience natural light and fresh air – offering visitors a ‘moment to reflect.’ Its modular design allows for easy disassembly and relocation to different exhibition sites.
Premiering at the London Design Festival in 2021, The Cube was conceived as a response to the stresses of modern life. Together with VELUX, AKQA and Danish musician Kasper Bjørke, we created a sensory space with daylight and fresh air as the focus. Located at the iconic Observation Point along London’s South Bank, the timber-clad pavilion invites visitors to step away from the busy city and embrace moments of calm and reflection.
The Cube’s design demonstrates how light and air can transform a space and enhance well-being. Inside, mirrored surfaces reflect a mosaic of skylights that channel sunlight into the interior, while Bjørke’s soundscape subtly enhances the atmosphere. Throughout the day the building creates different moments, inviting people to come and experience something unique.
Designed for disassembly
Circular design principles were used in the pavilion’s design; created with the intention of being disassembled and relocated for future exhibitions. Its design embraces this temporality by making light a central feature. Daylight – and its absence – are not just functional but integral to The Cube’s experience, changing with each new location. This variation highlights the adaptable nature of the pavilion, as each location’s unique daylight conditions shape new and distinct experiences.
“Light in particular is something that changes everywhere you are in the world. Each place that houses the Cube will offer a completely different experience of the space and allow a different interpretation of its meaning,” says Eva Ravnborg.
“Sunlight makes a building come alive. You can choreograph how daylight enters and different qualities of light – it gives us a wide palette of materials.”
Eva Ravnborg
Director, Denmark
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