Asif Khan

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  1. Blackout

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  5. Tempietto nel Bosco

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    The Great Courtyard of Palazzo Litta hosts Tempietto nel Bosco, an installation by the London-based studio Asif Khan debuting at Milan Design Week. Khan is renowned for his exceptional projects which include the MegaFaces pavilion at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Coca Cola Beatbox in London at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the Summer House at the Serpentine Galleries in London, the Guggenheim Helsinki Plan, the U.K. Pavilion at the Expo 2017 in Astana, the Hyundai Pavilion in PyeongChang during the 2018 Winter Olympics, and the Museum of London in West Smithfield.

    The wood-based installation for The Litta Variations/4th Movement, unique in the way in which it slants upwards, explores the natural element of the forest while simultaneously exploring the architecture of an open-air cathedral, an extension of the Renaissance structure of Palazzo Litta, which, by way of a matrix of interconnected rooms and corridors, leads to a space of tranquility and relaxation. “The intimate rooms are intended as a place to unwind and converse during the intense marathon that is Milan Design Week. A soft surface under the feet offers a textural contrast against the kilometers of pedestrian sidewalks across the city,” says Asif Khan.

    The architect imagined the pavilion as a clearing in a forest, of which the courtyard of Palazzo Litta becomes a counterpart: an orderly environment created by men. The installation of Asif Khan is a reflection on the past, on the present and on the future. Next to the world of the forest and the architectural order defined by man, the future takes shape, represented by the clearings created in space. Hence the overall redness of the installation: the colour of the new world with which contemporary man is more and more familiar: the red planet, Mars.

    Client: Damn Magazine, Mosca Partners
    Engineering: AKTII
    Fabrication: Imola Legno
    Furniture: Living Divani
    Stone:  Van den Weghe
    Lighting: Artemide

    Photography: Luke Hayes
    Photography & Drone Footage: Laurian Ghinitoiu

  6. UK Pavilion

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    The UK Pavilion has been designed by Asif Khan leading a team of British talent.

    Inspired by the Astana 2017 Expo theme of ‘Future Energy’, the UK pavilion explores the origins of energy. Beginning with the birth of the universe, taking visitors on the journey of energy from the sun through to the earth’s landscape, its climate, human civilisation and UK innovation. The UK pavilion is multi-sensory experience involving film, technology, sound and computer generated animation.

    At the heart of the UK pavilion is a stunning 60 metre panorama depicting a living, universal landscape generated entirely by computer. It captures the relationship between the Sun, the Earth and its climate in incredible detail through virtual day and night. At a stunning 40,000 pixels wide it is the largest project of its kind ever undertaken.

    The panorama surrounds a striking centrepiece structure inspired by the architecture of yurts, representing the timeless connection between human civilisation and our environment. Its transparent spokes respond to human touch with illumination, which in turn influences the landscape around it, gently altering its weather in reaction to visitor activity.

    An original score by musician Brian Eno unfolds in parallel with this journey. It takes visitors from a single tone at the entrance and exit, and builds to a continuous, richly layered composition, immersing people as they view the landscape.

    The visitor is then invited into a gallery space to discover innovations from the UK, showcased through an animated triptych of UK energy past, present and future against a backdrop of well-known landmarks and activity.

    Before exiting the visitor will be welcomed into a special display on graphene – the UK’s most recent global innovation. A wonder material that is the strongest, thinnest and most permeable material known to man, whose potential is limitless. This gallery also hosts a series of pop-up displays throughout the period of the Expo.

    From the beginnings of universe 13.8 billion years ago, to the emergence of the Sun, the Earth and of human ingenuity, the story of the UK Pavilion is that everything including ourselves are connected through energy. Our pavilion asks the question, if we can realise we are all energy, connected to each other and to everything from the beginnings of time, how might it affect the way we think about energy in the future?

  7. Xiringuito Margate

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    The Dreamlands funfair “boneyard” in the English seaside town of Margate was the location of the first Xiringuito in Summer 2016.

    Xiringuito is a moveable restaurant for Conor Sheehan and Jackson Berg that can be packed up and moved onto new town each season. The design needed to be easily put up, using a minimal amount of material. We used repeated tent-like triangular shapes that could be connected and run out in a curve, a circle or a straight line.

    Part of what makes this restaurant special is that it appears where you least expect it to be. As the context changes, it too changes to suit it.

    We realised if we made the whole restaurant with scaffolding we could use the local scaffolder in whichever town it went to, borrowing from their inventory, and then returning the structure after use. This enables the client to capture and invest in local know-how and is the the same concept for the supporting restaurant staff.  In a way, it belongs to each place it visits.

  8. Xiringuito Liverpool

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    A disused warehouse in The Cains Brewery, Liverpool is the location of the second Xiringuito during Winter 2016-7.

    Xiringuito is a moveable restaurant for Conor Sheehan and Jackson Berg that can be packed up and moved onto new town each season. The design needed to be easily put up, using a minimal amount of material. We used repeated tent-like triangular shapes that could be connected and run out in a curve, a circle or a straight line.

    Part of what makes this restaurant special is that it appears where you least expect it to be. As the context changes, it too changes to suit it.

    We realised if we made the whole restaurant with scaffolding we could use the local scaffolder in whichever town it went to, borrowing from their inventory, and then returning the structure after use. This enables the client to capture and invest in local know-how and is the the same concept for the supporting restaurant staff.  In a way, it belongs to each place it visits.

  9. Forests

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  10. Depth Drawings

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    We were invited to propose an architectural installation in Shanghai Xintiandi’s dynamic streetscape.

    Depth Drawings explores cultures of depicting and experiencing depth in art and in space. Inspired by the sensation and remarkable properties of two-dimensional parallel projection in Chinese traditional scroll paintings, we have designed a series of outdoor structures which will be lit at night. Visitors will be able to navigate around the installation taking in the unexpected optical effects. When visitors are photographed within the installation they will appear flattened as though within a scroll painting, and doing so, connect history to the present, and vice versa.