The Work Learn Zone at the Millennium Dome was a short-life shell and core exhibition structure built to contain the Work and Learn exhibitions for the ‘New Millennium Experience’. Standard rotating billboard technology was adapted and up-scaled to wrap an over-sized shed with a dynamic loop of images that explore the convergence of ‘Work’ and ‘Learn’. Each of the three exterior images represented a different aspect of British life: print works at the Financial Times for working; a library of books for learning; and a quintessentially British typical countryside park setting scene as the antithesis of both. Visual effect overrode underlying construction; delight at the surface led to intrigue of content. An army of angel-winged ‘creatures’ accompanied the decorated shed, each equipped with a screen playing a twenty-first century ‘Domesday’ book made up of 1000s of internet-based recordings of British school children’s impressions of their local communities. Designed to envelope their visitors, the inflatable creatures stimulate a simultaneous shift in scale and focus. Work Learn Zone was designed in collaboration with Tim Pyne’s WORK and the inflatable angels were designed in collaboration with Nick Crosbie’s Inflate.
Awards
- 2000 RIBA Award for Architecture
