Rewind LDN#6

In a Lonely Place - The world's first inflatable folly installed at the RIBA [untill 2 May 2006].

An 8 metre inflated black sphere punctured by a half-timbered structure landed at the RIBA. The too-big structure is squashed awkwardly into the 7 metre high space of the Florence Hall at the heart of the RIBA’s Arts Deco headquarters in London. Inside, a wooden stair leads up to a viewing platform, here the surrounding void is broken by small pinpricks of light, made by transparent panels cut in the sphere.

The installation, which is entitled In a Lonely Place, has been designed by Fat [Fashion Architecture Taste], who describe themselves as ‘a company that makes architecture and art (and all kinds of things in between)’. In a Lonely Place is the first in a series of installations specially commissioned by the RIBA Trust.

In a Lonely Place combines different kinds of architecture: high tech inflatable and nostalgic historicism, which creates ambiguities of form and formlessness, of narrative and abstraction, and of object and experience. The result is a modern day folly that explores the idea of architecture as a series of experiences made richer by drawing on diverse references, materials and techniques. Designed to absorb a variety of activities, and suggestive, yet not wholly committed, to conjuring up an idea of place. This proposal from FAT draws on both the traditions of the Picturesque and Roadrunner cartoons: a platform where you are as likely to get married as fall asleep. It is a cross between a park and an office desk - by turns, useful and useless.

In a Lonely Place has been produced by inflate.