London:
The roof of London's department store Selfridges has been transformed into a magical island and boating lake.
The island and lake have taken over more than 400 square meters of the roof, allowing the public to row across the rooftop in 12 two man boats.
Visitors to the spectacle will also be able to see a waterfall splashing into the emerald green lake.
The installation is the creative brainchild of 'culinary architects' Bompas and Parr and Studio Toogood.
"What we are asking people to do is go on their own voyage of discovery, which is a bit of adventure," explained Sam Bompas.
"Selfridges' roof always used to be about joy, about pleasure, they used to have gardens here, a cafe here, even a rifle range and so we are bringing that back. We are giving London something where they can have a guilt free wonderful time on," he added.
For Faye Toogood, the director of Studio Toogood, turning the roof of Selfridges into a water attraction was no easy task.
"The engineering that has gone into this to get the water on the roof has been quite substantial, so there is a huge amount of steel underneath our feet to support the water and just getting Selfridges to agree and to trust Bompas and Parr and ourselves to create the vision here," she said.
Creating a lake on top of a London store may have been a challenge, but according to Toogood, the public response has made it all worthwhile.
"I think people have been really excited by it and also shocked. I think people in the design world particularly understand how difficult it is to pull something like this off and really we hope that everyone enjoys it really," she said.
The installation will be open to the public from Thursday July 21st until Sunday 24th July.
The event, called the Truvia Voyage of Discovery, hopes to introduce sweetener brand Truvia to the UK.
The island and lake have taken over more than 400 square meters of the roof, allowing the public to row across the rooftop in 12 two man boats.
Visitors to the spectacle will also be able to see a waterfall splashing into the emerald green lake.
The installation is the creative brainchild of 'culinary architects' Bompas and Parr and Studio Toogood.
"What we are asking people to do is go on their own voyage of discovery, which is a bit of adventure," explained Sam Bompas.
"Selfridges' roof always used to be about joy, about pleasure, they used to have gardens here, a cafe here, even a rifle range and so we are bringing that back. We are giving London something where they can have a guilt free wonderful time on," he added.
For Faye Toogood, the director of Studio Toogood, turning the roof of Selfridges into a water attraction was no easy task.
"The engineering that has gone into this to get the water on the roof has been quite substantial, so there is a huge amount of steel underneath our feet to support the water and just getting Selfridges to agree and to trust Bompas and Parr and ourselves to create the vision here," she said.
Creating a lake on top of a London store may have been a challenge, but according to Toogood, the public response has made it all worthwhile.
"I think people have been really excited by it and also shocked. I think people in the design world particularly understand how difficult it is to pull something like this off and really we hope that everyone enjoys it really," she said.
The installation will be open to the public from Thursday July 21st until Sunday 24th July.
The event, called the Truvia Voyage of Discovery, hopes to introduce sweetener brand Truvia to the UK.
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