Optic Cloak

Futurecity was appointed by client Knight Dragon to develop a Culture & Placemaking Strategy for the Greenwich Peninsula, a vast new riverside, 190-acre, mixed-use development, which when completed will have 15,000 new homes and £500m to be spent on public places and social spaces.

Artist Conrad Shawcross RA won an international sculpture competition for the redesign of the flue tower of a new Low Carbon Energy Centre. His ambitious proposal, Optic Cloak, transformed the 50-metre flue (chimney) from a heavy, traditional frame into a lightweight sculptural structure. He created a ‘moiré’ camouflage effect’ by layering 1000’s of perforated triangles, creating an optical effect of water and a dynamic constantly changing surface. Over 100,000 vehicles pass the Optic Cloak each day and it can be seen from land, river and air.

Photography © Ron Bambridge

Selected Press: NOW Gallery: The Optic Cloak by Conrad Shawcross; Dezeen: Conrad Shawcross forays into architecture with faceted tower that “defies definition”; Wallpaper: Conrad Shawcross: exploring the work of British art’s brightest star