Big thanks to my friend Emily Iremonger at Asif Khan, located in London, for sharing images of the "Beatbox" project ompleted for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Khan and his team created an tectonic representation of what KRS-One describes as the essence of hip hop, the ability to remix. Although Asif Khan made no attempt to directly connect this project to hip hop culture, and as it focused more on the creation of music in general, it's impossible for me not to see it as a precedent for hip hop inspired architecture both programmatically and aesthetically.
What are your thoughts?
"The Beatbox Pavilion was designed for Coca-Cola as their temporary showcasing venue for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The Coca-Cola Beatbox is an experimental fusion of architecture, sport, music and technology that creates a mufti-sensory experience. The visionary pavilion has been inspired by Coca-Cola;s global campaign for London 2012, Move to the Beat, that aims to connect young people to the Games by bringing together their passion for music and sport.
Using the strength of the Coca-Cola brand, the pavilion uses as faceted but instantly recognizable building envelope made up of over 200 red and white interlocking ETFE cushions. Innovative sound technology is embedded with the ETFE cushions creating an interactive sound journey and piece of architecture that the visitor can play like a musical instrument. The sound bytes include five Olympic sports recoded for Coca-Cola Olympic anthem "Anywhere in the World" by British producer Mark Ronson. The recordings, which include athletes' heartbeats, shoes squeaking, and arrows hitting a target can be triggered and remixed by the gestures and movements of the visitors as they make the 200m journey up the ramp to the pavilions rooftop. At roof level visitors enjoy a stunning panoramic view of the Olympic Park before descending an internally spiraling ramp into a darkened performance space featuring an interactive light installation."
Images courtesy of Hufton+Crow.