Don’t be startled if you see a luminous pink tree sitting in London’s Belgrave Square this weekend — it’s just OR2, a combination shading device and solar-powered chandelier designed by London-based Orproject. The structure’s purpose is twofold: it acts as a source of shade during the day, and it turns into a dazzling chandelier at night, dispersing light collected by photovoltaic cells hours before.
The pink-tinted structure, built as part of the London Festival of Architecture, is a follow-up project to the OR single-surface solar roof structure. OR2 is translucent while in the shade, but it quickly fills in with color when exposed to sunlight.
According to the designers, OR and OR2 are the first structures to use photo-reactive technology at an architectural scale. The designers explain, “The beauty of OR2 is its constant interaction with the elements, at each moment of the day OR’s appearance is unique.”
Want to check out OR2 in person? It’s on display until July 4 at the Italian Cultural Institute in London.
+ Orproject
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Dancliff01
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…and this is different from a cafe’s umbrella during the day and a street light during the night HOW exactly?
Oh yeah… it’s a helluva lot more expensive, looks like a psychedelic tree and such at both the shading and lighting jobs. Silly me, that’s the difference between functioning design and Avant Garde – how could I have forgotten?
Beautiful work of art!
Strangely captivating and beautiful. Great article