{"id":87512,"date":"2025-08-23T13:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T13:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/87512\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T13:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T13:34:09","slug":"benni-allan-suspends-glowing-canopy-in-woodlands-for-houghton-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/87512\/","title":{"rendered":"Benni Allan suspends glowing canopy in woodlands for Houghton Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Benni Allan, founder of London studio EBBA Architects<\/a>, has created an installation<\/a> named Pulse for this year’s Houghton Festival, which lights up in response to the surrounding trees.<\/p>\n

Situated in a forest clearing at the festival<\/a>, which took place in Norfolk<\/a> from 7 to 10 August, the Pulse installation featured sound and lighting displays that aimed to connect visitors with the woodland setting.<\/p>\n

\"PulsePulse featured a canopy that glows different colours. Above: photo by Benni Allan. Top photo by Rikard Kahn<\/p>\n

A square platform with slanted edges made from black-stained softwood and plywood<\/a>, which festival-goers could sit on, formed the base of Pulse.<\/p>\n

Overhead, a canopy suspended from the surrounding trees mirrored the platform’s chamfered square shape.<\/p>\n

\"PulseIt was located in a forest clearing at this year’s Houghton Festival<\/p>\n

Informed by tetrahedral kites created by scientist Alexander Graham Bell, Pulse’s canopy was made from plywood sheets arranged in a waffle-like structure, which was wrapped in translucent waterproof fabric.<\/p>\n

Allan’s main intention when designing the installation was to create a relaxing space where festival-goers could be immersed in nature through different senses.<\/p>\n

Sound recordings were taken from trees surrounding the clearing, which were translated into vibrations in Pulse’s base and a soundscape designed by composer Kevin Pollard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The tree recordings also informed the light display in the canopy, which glowed white in the day and displayed pulsing colourful lights at night.<\/p>\n

\"InstallationSound and light displays responded to recordings taken from surrounding trees<\/p>\n

“The intention was to help create a feeling of connection with the context and to create something specific to the site,” Allan told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“Houghton shares a deep connection with the forest and the surrounding environment, and I envisioned the idea of making something that would help to translate the vibrations from the surroundings,” he added.<\/p>\n

“We chose four mature trees that were in a perfect grid in relation to the clearing, and it helped to give the concept for the sound and haptics a clear rationale, helping to connect the sound and haptics with the relationship of where you were placed on the installation.”<\/p>\n

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EBBA and Charlotte Taylor design London listening bar “dedicated to sound”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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He hoped that the installation would function as a space for reflection.<\/p>\n

“As a complementary experience to the rest of the festival, the installation was intended to be an oasis away from the music and a space that offered a place for both reflection and relaxation, yet also a moment to bring all the senses to the fore,” Allan said.<\/p>\n

Pulse was designed to connect festival-goers with the surrounding nature<\/p>\n

The base of Pulse will remain a permanent fixture in the woodlands, and the canopy will be disassembled and reinstalled for next year’s Houghton Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The installation was designed so that the base could be kept as a permanent element, while the installation in the trees is easily demountable and disassembled so that it can be stored,” said Allan.<\/p>\n

“The exciting part of the entire project was the experimental nature and how we will develop the concept as we learn about how people use it.”<\/p>\n

Allan founded EBBA Architects<\/a> in 2017. Other projects by the studio include the Space Talk listening bar in London<\/a> and a metal-frame home extension informed by Victorian design<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by James Retrief<\/a> unless stated.<\/p>\n

Houghton Festival took place in Norfolk from 7 to 10 August. See Dezeen Events Guide<\/a>\u00a0for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benni Allan, founder of London studio EBBA Architects, has created an installation named Pulse for this year’s Houghton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,43945,309,96,10994,43944,2039,40339,41464,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-87512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-ebba-architects","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-installations","16":"tag-music-festivals","17":"tag-norfolk","18":"tag-sectionall","19":"tag-sectiondesign","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}