ryan panos

The Battersea ExperimentThis project examines how new architectural spaces could be cultivated, grown and brought to life using living technologies. The project is realised through the construction of a short film in which a character, alienated from a world of steel and glass sets about creating an arcadian world within the derelict shell of Battersea Power Station.

The scientist, Oliver Deuce, is employed to oversee and document the preservation of the power station, although as the work progress he becomes obsessed with the process of growth and decay taking place, using time lapse photography to maintain a detailed record of the gradual transformation of the building. This obsession grows and he begins to experiment, growing and nurturing new spaces and landscapes over time. After many years he has harboured the growth of exotic arbouritums, acoustic follies, enchanted forests and even his own mausoleum as he seeks to realise his perfect world. Long after the scientist’s death, occupants trapped by the ordered lifestyle of the glass towers of New Battersea find hidden pleasures within the chaos of this anarchic landscape.