Student Festival: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne-Tower Bridge Plaza

Overflow is a large-scale archi-tectonic artifact interacting with the tidal movements at the Thames River. It has been designed and erected by ALICE studio from EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland. Conceived as a flexible post-tensioned polystyrene structure, fastened along the embankment handrail as a hinge, it is to pivot according to the tidal amplitudes in the Thames River.

On the 3rd of July, in the LFA Student Festival Final Review, the EPFL project was honored with the prize for the 'Signpost' theme and awarded with the prize for the best overall project.

Overflow was originally designed for Tower Bridge Plaza. This site was strategically chosen in order to investigate how a natural force such as the tidal movement occurring in the Thames could be amplified and extended over the land in the form of a spatial screen continuously transforming the perception of the iconic London Sky-line and its presence from the plaza.

This spatial structure behaves as a tectonic overflow, from water to land. Although the Thames has largely influenced through times the development of the urban fabric of London, a personal and physical connection to the river is still restricted today by an imposing embankment. Indeed this buffer zone absorbs twice a day an almost unnoticeable level change of water of over six meters, mainly vertically along its retaining wall.

The proposed installation attempts to first accentuate our awareness of this phenomenon and then transfer it into a physical experience expanding from a vertical to a horizontal spatial configuration over the embankment walkway.

Overflow has been erected on the Southwark Walkway in front of Tate Modern. It has been assembled on June 18th and 19th and staged as an ephemeral event on June 20th/22nd.

	Digg this!
	Share on Facebook
	Add to del.icio.us