Londoners call it the Oasis – an apt moniker for this 40-foot-tall interactive sculpture that’s been charming city dwellers for months. The work, designed by Laurie Chetwood, is a place to bask in ambient infotainment. Five enclosed pods are each outfitted with three LCDs and two speakers to provide visitors location-specific data for wherever the Oasis happens to be (the installation is transported via lorry). At a music festival, for example, the A/V system would play concert footage. A stage, gathering area, and garden surround the structure’s base. The Oasis is a zero-emissions sculpture that recycles natural resources and runs on solar, fuel cell, and wind energy. At night, it uses stored power for a light show. Next stop: British Council of Shopping Centres, Manchester, before taking a holiday in France.
– Jenna Wortham
credit Edmund Sumner
1) VERTICAL-AXIS TURBINE Works well in low-velocity urban winds that change direction often. Helical design lets it operate nearly vibration-free and whisper-quiet.2) THERMAL CHIMNEY Sunlight heats the transparent body, drawing warmer air upward to create a natural ventilation system that pulls in cooler air from below. This upward flow can even boost the turbine’s rotation speed. 3) SOLAR PETALS Fifteen hydraulic-controlled spikes, each covered with paper-thin photovoltaic panels, collect sunlight to generate energy. 4) FUEL CELL Using the hydrogen in bio-methanol fuel eliminates the need to hold it as a compressed gas (remember the Hindenburg?). 5) BATTERIES Energy is stored in six sealed lead acid batteries. 6) AIR SYSTEM Air circulates through a series of tubes and is cooled by rainwater that runs down the petals. 7) IRRIGATION TANKS Along with cooling the circulating air, collected water is pumped into the garden at timed intervals.
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Escape Pod
