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Inventive vents – An exhibition celebrating London's weird and wonderful ventilation shafts

Exhibitions
2 Jul–9 Jul 2021

The Building Centre is hosting Inventive Vents an exhibition on the weird and wonderful ventilation shafts of London by Our Hut Architecture.

Inventive Vents: A gazetteer of London’s ventilation shafts stems from a project led by Our Hut, which was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It aims to broaden understanding and appreciation of London’s below-ground workings – transport, services, and sewerage – and the need for ventilation.

Primary and secondary school students where invited to design vents for a range of different sites. Their models are now on show at the Building Centre, alongside photographs of London's vents by eminent artists and architects such as Thomas Heatherwick’s cooling vents for an electricity substation in Paternoster Square, and Eduardo Paolozzi’s cast metal vent sculpture in Pimlico. There are also vents made by less known or anonymous designers, for example, the 109 Lambeth road vent and the ‘Camberwell Submarine‘.

On display until Fri 9 July.