Glamourous shapes for a traditional object

Designer fountain projects for The Kiosk exhibition

by eleonora usseglio prinsi
4
4 Love 1873 Visits

EXHIBITION – We never really pay attention in our daily life about how urban fountains accessorize our public spaces, sometimes anonymous sometimes the cornerstone of a square, but what happens if Zaha Hadid, Hopkins Architects and Eric Parry Architects deal with it?

They are certainly not going to go unnoticed anyway!

This is what happens at The Kiosk exhibition, organised by the Architects’ Journal magazine and Turkishceramics, which will feature Ottoman inspired designs by some of the world’s most talented architects.

Hopkins Architects; cover: Zaha Hadid Architects

The exhibition will take place at the Building Centre in Central London and runs from Friday until 14 March and includes the most bizzare ideas from six UK practices.
From the charitable fountain kiosks in Turkey paid by the Sultan to distribute free, clean water to citizens to the curvy shapes of Zaha's design it's a short step.

“Traditional Ottoman fountain kiosks became meeting points, gathering places for a community to connect. With large protective cantilevers, the fountains often include ceramic tiling and our proposal translates these characteristics to contemporary use within a design informed by the continuous loop of the water cycle.” explained Saffet Kaya Bekiroglu from Zaha Hadid Architects.



Studio Weave

Participants were asked to consider three contrasting sites in the capital - Exhibition Road, Soho and the South Bank.
Coloured tiles composing the high thin shape of the "bucolic" fountain by Studio Weave, a eco friendly totem, which works as warning to fill up our canteen instead of wasting more plastic bottles. Adam Architecture on the other hand opts for a classical massive shape mixied ironically (I hope) with optical textures.

Our kiosk' commented Ken Hood, Partner at Hopkins Architects 'aims to make the dispensing of water a celebrated urban event which will draw people together and add drama to the public realm in London.’



AHMM - Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

The work by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, on the other hand is more anonymous. They try to take advantage, as much as possible, of the quality of the material “Our design places glazed high strength industrial ceramic in a public setting, utilising the long term colourfastness and durability of this emerging material.”  

Eric Parry, Director of Eric Parry Architects, said: ‘I wanted to combine the pleasurable object of the Ottoman precedent with the everyday needs of a hungry city like London.’  

So what's your favourite one?

Eric Parry Architects

Adam Architecture

The Building Centre,
26 Store St, WC1E 7BT
London  

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