2 photos by Mary Mullan

The Floating Forest is an immersive aqueous duet of botanical water vessels offering leisure lounging as a way to navigate the waterways of London’s East End. It consists of the traveling RootLounge (left) and the floating BoweredGlade (right) – two floating mounds of grass and wood, operating in symphony throughout numerous spaces and festivals across the capital’s canals and rivers in the summer of 2011.


The Root Lounge lashes together two aluminium Grumman canoes as catamaran substrate for a sculptural floating landscape above. Sensual CNC-carved plywood ribs radiate from a central storage stump, dancing and weaving beneath a floating grass landscape above before dipping wildly into the water. The complex seeded surface cunningly moulds into a seamless sweep of seating for 10 , its nooks and niches, banks and inclines, all offering multiple positions for sitting, reclining and generally draping oneself across. An electric motor between the hulls allows this furnished isle to quietly slip across the city, speeding visitors towards the destination of the Bowered Glade.



The Glade centres on an outstretched tree which radiates luscious limbs and roots across a pair of sturdy plastic pontoons. The tree’s trunk clusters twelve intersecting filaments of CNC-carved plywood, which curl and extend above out over the canal as sinuous elongated branches. Two sibling grassy mounds gently push up through the forestal floor to offer soft sofa forms, encouraging connection between the collection of bodies nestled upon them.

photo by Simon Warren

The two together offer an urban slice of English Arcadia; a contemporary edge on rural history, drilled by machine but draped with nature, ready and waiting for the journeys of those who guide and nudge them as they drift across less-charted urban waters.

The Floating Forest briefly premiered at the Shoreditch Festival before its first full appearance at the Hackney Wicked Festival. Further appearances are planned for the duration of the summer and onwards towards the Olympics, including a few pop-up dress-up banquets hosted by Latitudinal Cuisine. The project has hosted various visitors and events, including a photoshoot for Intersection magazine, a promo for the UK Air Guitar championships, diners from the Towpath Café, a choir from Sing London and a ballad by Robin Grey.
More programming information is at http://www.thekindest.org/floatingforest


4 photos by Simon Warren


4 photos by Mary Mullan




The Floating Forest was commissioned by Thomas Lindner of the Kindest Group as a low-budget prototype for future leisure travel along the waterways of East London, in preparation for their intensified use during the 2012 Olympics. It was generously funded by OpenVizor and hosted and developed by Floating House Productions. The project incorporated a mystical experience designed by Katiushka Borges (LoversLikeUs) using lasercut Oracle symbols designed by Vahakn which visitors are asked to choose and interpret.


"We were delighted to see the Floating Forest make such an eye-catching impact over the festival period. It’s an impressive piece of work and it has been a real source of amazement at Shoreditch Festival."
Alex Finlayson, Partnerships and Festivals Manager (Shoreditch Festival)


More info and imagery at http://www.facebook.com/AtmosStudio


4 photos by Simon Warren


Design team:
Alex Haw, Friedrich Vitzthum, Pablo Milara

Construction team:
Pablo Milara, Mayssa Jallad, Friedrich Vitzthum, Alex Haw, Imogen Wall, Jen McLennan, Aidan Geboers, Elaine Chan, Seif Alhasani, Simon Warren, U-Sun Hu, Zach Gomperts-Mitchelson, Jonny Chapman, Abbas Nokhasteh, Marek Wasniewski, Iskra Tsaneva, Thomas Lindner (A huge thank you to those generous friends who lent a hand)

CNC fabrication:
Jim Haste, PMP Ltd


photo by Simon Warren