Kaleidosteeple shapes an accessible observation device inspired by the central geometry of a kaleidoscope’s changing patterns and St Michael’s square iconic steeple.
Project Name: Kaleidosteeple
Studio Name: Maetherea
Location: St Michael’s Square, Croydon, London
Installation: 2024
It is a visually attractive point in the square, a vertical element with the landmarking function of a steeple; its mirrored faces reflect Croydon’s multi-diverse human and urban landscape.
An elegant modular white structure sustains the central kaleidoscope. While the light design and colours relate to the lightness of air and skylight, its materiality refers to the urbanity and its energy, which makes Croydon beautifully alive and interesting to observe. Plants will grow on the structure, giving life to an architectural-vegetal symbiosis, shaping a sensorial and ecological machine.
‘Kaleidosteeple is a green shrine, a vegetethal cathedral with a central Kaleiodscope reflecting Croydon’s vibrant diversity. It is an observatory device, it invite us to position beneath it and look at the sky and observe its changes at different time of the day.
The vertical structure protects the steeple and encourage vines to grow on it, creating a seasonal, living artwork. The marbled mesmerizing tiles, sampling the colour of the sky, have been created and inspired by the community engagement workshops and activities’.
This shape creates both a protected space to stop by and socialise and offers different reflected viewpoints and possibly different ways to look at things. This interactive artwork will suggest Croydon’s heterogeneous community to look at its diversities with curiosity and pride.
