Design Miami’s Branded Pavilions

New York-based architects Snarkitecture headlined at biannual international trade show Design Miami with its surreal canopy of inflatable white tubing.

Known as Drift, the installation was formed from inflatable vinyl tubes of varying lengths encased within a lightweight metal frame. Serving as the event’s entrance pavilion, the cave-like structure incorporated small gaps to allow shafts of natural light to penetrate the space, while the movable grey tubular benches beneath encouraged visitors to linger and interact.

British designer Asif Khan’s experimental project Parhelia in collaboration with Austrian crystal company Swarovski was another highlight of the show. Taking inspiration from glacial ice formations, his installation comprised of a 20ft metal frame in the shape of a house on stilts, with 1.3 million crystals studded onto honeycomb-style panels.

Khan strategically positioned the crystal panels so that light reflects and ripples across the interior as visitors pass through the space – giving each of them an illusory ‘halo’. The idea was to quite literally shed light on the ice halo phenomenon – rare luminous rings that appear in the sky in the arctic due to atmospheric ice crystals and low sun. Lit by a single LED, a skylight within the structure allows natural light to add to the effect.

For further examples of Snarkitecture’s work, see our spaces report Building Fashion: Fashion and Architecture’s Bright New Alliance, while our Milan Design Week coverage delivers more inspiration for branded spaces.

Snarkitecture 

Asif Khan 

Swarovski