Battersea Power Station and Peckham Library battled it out with other buildings in an architecturally themed comedy challenge
The most surreal sight of the London Festival of Architecture must have been architects from Make, dressed as four red phone boxes, chasing the Thames Barrier.
It's an Architectural Knockout saw contestants from Make, Ash Sakula, Alan Baxter, Savills, Make, Adams Kara Taylor and Bompas & Parr running riot in Clerkenwell's Spa Fields in an ingenious series of games designed to mirror the world of construction.
Game number one involved building a tower from cardboard boxes and sticky-backed plastic. Health and safety rules applied and points were docked for failure to wear safety helmets. Contestants had to meet on-site renewable targets using plastic bottles, a paddling pool and Stuart Hall's favourite - a bucket of water full of holes.
The crowd-pleasing demolition round saw the destruction of the short-lived buildings and the mandatory separation of recyclable waste - a brilliant ruse by the organisers to clear up the mess left by the teams.
The finale saw each team run around the green dressed as buildings of their choice. The depiction of the Thames Barrier, complete with muddy brown water, was the work of Ash Sakula, while Savills' agents donned crepe paper to impersonate the chimneys of Battersea Power Station. Alan Baxter & Associates somehow made a convincing impersonation of Georgian London, and Adams Kara Taylor reinterpreted Peckham Library.
Somehow the judges, who included Will Alsop, Lucy Tauber, and Anna Liu, saw through the chaos to declare Ash Sakula the winner.
The competition was a collaboration between architect Velorose and model maker A Models and was convivially hosted by Maxwell Hutchinson in his best summer boater. Urban Splash was the sponsor.
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