Alain de Botton Living Architecture

http://www.living-architecture.co.uk/registration.asp A Room for London, designed by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with Fiona Banner, is a one-bedroom installation that will sit on roof of Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and be part of the London 2012 Festival. The design competition for A Room for London, which attracted entries from around 500 architects and artists from across the world, was set by Living Architecture and Artangel, in association with Southbank Centre. The brief was to create a room on one of the most visible sites in the British capital, where up to two people at a time could spend a unique night in an exemplary architectural landmark. The winning design, A Room for London: Roi des Belges, is a boat perched on the Queen Elizabeth Hall roof which appears to have come to rest there, grounded, perhaps, from the retreating waters of the Thames below. David and Fiona drew inspiration from the riverboat captained by Joseph Conrad whilst in the Congo in 1890, a journey echoed in his most famous work Heart of Darkness. From the lower and upper ‘decks' of this beautifully crafted timber structure (see a plan here), there are extraordinary views of a London panorama that stretches from Big Ben to St Paul's cathedral. With an en-suite double bedroom, kitchenette, library and viewing deck, guests are invited to rest and reflect upon what they see and hear during their one night stay; logging their thoughts, observing cloud patterns, the character of the river and deeper undercurrents.