Conrad Shawcross’ The Optic Cloak wins a World Architecture News Award

The Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre, by C.F. Møller Architects in collaboration with Conrad Shawcross, wins in the category of Metal in Architecture.

Designed by Shawcross, the cladding for the structure is formed of hundreds of triangular panels that fold and flow across the surface of the tower forming complex geometric patterns that visually break up the flat planes to create an uneven, sculpted surface that plays with the vanishing points and perspective.

Unveiled in Autumn 2016, The Optic Cloak, a major architectural intervention for the Greenwich Peninsula low carbon Energy Centre, is a synthesis of engineering and optical research that draws on subjects including maritime camouflage, Cubism and Op Art. Made from lightweight aluminium perforated panels whose overlays create an optical effect, the structure is both monumental and visually dynamic, utilitarian and beguiling, created in sympathy with the design and ethos of the Energy Centre while appearing continually to change in different lighting conditions and as viewers move around it. 

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Image: Conrad Shawcross, The Optic Cloak, 2016

Courtesy the artist, Greenwich Peninsula and Victoria Miro, London (photography Marc Wilmot)

© Conrad Shawcross