Luftschloss Floats Like an Aqua Cloud in Berlin

Designers Candy Lenk and Anna Borgman have joined forces to create <a href="http://projektluftschloss.de" target="_blank">Luftschloss</a>, a unique installation that stands in Alice Solomon Square of Berlin. The <a href="http://inhabitat.com/photos-get-a-sneak-peek-of-hwkns-giant-blue-smog-eating-wendy-sculpture-before-it-opens-next-week/" target="_blank">temporary piece</a> translates into “Castle in the Sky,” and transforms ordinary construction materials into a surreal sculpture that seems to float like a cloud. Borgman Lenk’s installation gives the ordinary eyesore of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/roswag-seiler-and-pakistani-locals-hand-build-a-school-from-cob-bamboo-and-mud/" target="_blank">scaffolding</a> a new and creative breath for all Berliners to enjoy.

Borgman Lenk wanted the installation to be deceiving to the viewer at first, by <a href="http://inhabitat.com/lantern-like-hanging-japanese-tea-house-brings-visitors-in-touch-with-nature/" target="_blank">using the commonplace scaffolding</a> as material to create something creative and beautiful.

While the metal gridding of the scaffolding mimics construction, it also references the housing development project, Hellersdorf.

Like many large housing projects, Hellersdorf was never completed due to political and bankruptcy issues, dotting the German landscape with <a href="http://inhabitat.com/aia-launches-new-initiative-to-revive-stalled-construction-sites-across-the-country/" target="_blank">unfinished construction eye sores</a> like many other projects.

Like the actual construction it references, Luftschloss is also in a constant state of flux, being built upon and evolving as if mirroring the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/mayor-bloomberg-announces-plan-for-willets-point-queens-to-be-revamped-into-new-green-neighborhood/" target="_blank">housing projects</a> it refers to.

The sheer aqua material is move throughout the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/urban-umbrella-urbanshed-competition-unveils-winning-prototype/" target="_blank">scaffolding frame</a>, sometimes floating like a cloud, and at other phases anchoring like a castle fortress. The floating form brightens the square on dreary days, and mimics the sky on sunny days. The sheets of translucent aqua also provide a shady place for meeting within the square.

Luftschloss is a temporary art installation provided by Stadtumbau Ost. It not only enlivens the Alice Solomon Square, but it encourages discussion and awareness about the failed <a href="http://inhabitat.com/r6-is-a-daylit-boutique-residence-for-transient-urbanites-in-south-korea/" target="_blank">public housing projects</a> of the community.