South Kensington's Exhibition Street is pedestrianised for first day of the London Festival of Architecture

Design freaks, music lovers and bewildered members of the public mingled on Exhibition Road on Saturday for the first weekend of the London Festival of Architecture.

The Kensington, Chelsea and Knightsbridge Hub hosted a series of site-specific installations along the length of Exhibition Road, soundtracked by bands such as M.I.A and British Sea Power, performing as part of Music Day.

It was a smart move for the LFA to join forces with Music Day, as the event attracted a larger clientele that it might otherwise have done.

The range of architectural projects was impressive, with visitors helping to raise a giant pink tent structure designed by Foster + Partners with Buro Happold; eating their lunches on reinforced cardboard structures designed by 6a Architects and taking artistic photos of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands’ sculptural steel installation.

Fortunately, visitors were not allowed to interact fully with the Pachamama Toilet, a water closet designed from sustainable fabric by Paticas Architecture and Adams Kara Taylor.

The day was as popular with children as it was with adults, with junior architecture lovers being particularly fond of Penoyre and Prasad’s giant pink balloons outside Imperial College – not least because the architects were handing out free lollipops. Tucked away in Princes Gardens was Tonkin Liu’s giant yellow fresh flower pavilion, designed in collaboration with Corus, that served as a place for visitors to rest their feet after strolling up and down Exhibition Road.

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