SKOPIA

A pop-up installation, SKOPIA is a small urban insert – a crossover between street furniture, public installation and civic infrastructure that creates a great impact at a very small footprint.

We inherited the Garden City, but have not been able to build on our inheritance. Walking along the pavement, we are overwhelmed, with signage, noise, traffic, pollution. Rarely do we interact with the trees, and the canopy above.

The SKOPIA is designed for people to have a chance encounter along the street. Changing ones perspective, and inspiring people in their every day life.

Design to heighten the senses. The Skopia lowers the canopy of the trees, to the height of a pedestrian. Once in the SKOPIA one experiences only reflection of the sky and the trees. The angles restrict our view of the built environment. We are no longer overwhelmed – But are now a community in the canopy.

Externally the SKOPIA is designed to blend into the city, bright and colourful screaming for attention. Only on entering, and taking the leap of faith (pop in) into the SKOPIA, one is a rewarded with the experience.

In present -day urban situations where there is a great deficit of sensitivity towards natural elements of our cities, this small installation reflects at the need to break away from the attention-seeking urban life and reflect on the more nuanced aspects of the city. It bridges the gap between heavy urban infrastructure and public installation to create engagement at the scale of a subversive insert- a welcome departure from the more obvious objects that make the city