Here are some photos from the London Festival of Architecture, including Foster + Partners Temporary Installation (above), Brompton Stoops by 6a Architects and Suitcase Pavilion by students from Virginia Tech.

Foster + Partners Temporary Installation was constructed in Exhibition Road on 21 June.

The tensile structure was designed by Foster + Partners with sound artist Bill Fontana.

The structure was created with help from the public.

The Brompton Stoops (below), designed by 6a Architects, consisted of a series of cardboard stair-like modules.

Icon magazine designed the surface decoration of the modules and curated a series of performances.

Meanwhile, a group of 18 students from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University created the Suitcase Pavilion (below).

Each student transported one suitcase full of the components, which were then assembled in Exhibition road upon arrival in London.

Components were then given away to members of the public.

Photographs by Ben Graville. The London Festival of Architecture continues until 20th July.

Here’s some more information from the LFA:

–

Foster + Partners Temporary Installation
21 June, 10am – 6pm
Exhibition Road , SW7 2RL

Tensile Structure Installation designed by Foster + Partners with commissioned sound artist Bill Fontana. In collaboration with Buro Happold and ES Projects.

Decorating the panels 10:00-13:00; Foster + Partners invite your hands-on participation.

Raising the Structure 14:00-14.30; Foster + Partners invite you to help pull up the structure.

Experience the Structure 14:30-18:30; Public invited to enter the structure and experience the commissioned artwork.

Brompton Stoops
21 June, 10am – 6:30pm
Exhibition Road , SW7 2RL

Brompton Estates, with the help of Icon magazine, have commissioned 6a architects to design and build a series of temporary ‘pop-up’ structures that can be erected in the publicly accessible Exhibition Road area during the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) 2008.

Designed by 6a Architects, the brief asks for a temporary structure that can be made in multiplies from an affordable material, and easily assembled and demounted. The structures will be used individually or grouped together to make a larger event space.

The premise for the ‘Pop up structures’ is to encourage and promote experimental architecture and at the same time provide temporary platforms for talks, events, mini exhibitions and promotional activities for the LFA. The talks and events programme will be organised by Icon magazine.

The brief, concept, design, and manufacture of the pop up structures will be undertaken by Brompton Estates, Icon and 6a Architects with the guidance of LFA.

The Brompton Design District, initiated by Brompton Estates aims to promote awareness of design and architecture in the Brompton/South Kensington area and provide a showcase for a broad range of design activities including nurturing and encouraging new design talent. The pop up structures are a perfect way to keep the momentum of temporary and exciting projects appearing in South Kensington that were originally started by Brompton Estates in 2007.

Suitcase Pavilion
21 June, 10am – 6:30pm
Exhibition Road , SW7 2RL

An architecture studio of Virginia Tech undergraduate students proposes to design and develop a full-scale pavilion that will travel from the United States to London. Just as the traveler unpacks his or her apparel for wear or storage, the pavilion can be configured to the specific users or site for the festival. The thesis of unit/multiple assembly embodies this spatial possibility, nesting both repetition and non-standardization within its system. Both analog and digital technologies drive the idea for the pavilion as a means to connect and reveal it within the specific context of London. Stacking and interlocking components form the structure, evoking the “bricks”, or building blocks of the past. The visual imagery that the pavilion will produce is seen as both structurally stable and as lightweight filigree.

The group of 18 students will take two suitcases each for our travel expedition. One suitcase will hold their personal belongings; the second suitcase will hold the flattened components for the pavilion. Upon arrival in London the components in the second suitcase will be transformed into a three dimensional structure for display and inhabitation. The entire time for physical setup and construction of the Suitcase Pavilion will only take a maximum of nine hours. After the festival, individual components will be distributed to the public as “gifts”, a gesture that reveals the ephemeral nature of the work. This distribution also represents the “deep memory” that the pavilion will hopefully embody.

The Suitcase Pavilion combines the FRESH Talent of young architects from the United States with the FRESH Ideas of digitally driven component architecture to create a spatial pavilion for the citizens of London.